Arnaud. The base cuprein contained in the Remijia pedunculata is treated with sodium, and after further processes quinine, 'absolutely identical' with that obtained from cinchona, is produced.

FORESTS AND RAINFALL.-It is satisfactory to notice the sensible manner in which the Forest Department is now conducting matters in the Andamans. The primary idea was to clear the whole forest, and though, from its extent, this would have been a work of time, there is little doubt that its effect, had it been realized, would, even in thirty years, have made itself felt as regards the rainfall. A discussion took place on the subject at the time, the advocates of complete denudation asserting that an elevated island in mid ocean would of itself be sufficient to ensure a rainfall without trees being needed as an attraction, a hypothesis at once demolished by those taking the opposite view adducing the island of Ascension as a standing example. When first colonised by some few Portuguese, the island was one mass of forest; and though the requirements of this handful of adventurous turtle-catchers made little impression on the timber, when ships began calling regularly for fuel and water, the effects of reckless denudation soon became apparent. Not only did rainfall diminish, but running streams gradually dried up until the island was fast becoming uninhabitable; and, though its importance has since dwindled to insignificance, the measures adopted nearly sixty years since render Ascension valuable as an example of the beneficial effects of re-foresting. As the demand for fuel on the part of vessels calling decreased, from the cheapness of coal and other causes, what was left of the timber was permitted to remain almost untouched; and the second growth rapidly attained the position of the parent stock, with the result that, in two decades, the rainfall assumed its normal character, and the springs and rivulets furnished supplies as of yore. The study of the history of the island from a forestry point of view may be commended to the authorities all over India; and though wells, canals, and irrigation works may do much to mitigate the effects of deficient rainfall in districts subject to it, it is incumbent on those in charge of such works to see that sufficient vegetation is established around these sources to attract a supply. To dig a tank or sink a well in such districts without surrounding it with a grove of forest trees, the taller the better, is tantamount to giving a hungry man an empty plate. Much has, we admit, been done of late years by the Forest Department all over the country; but too much attention has, we venture to think, been

ranges

given to conservation, pure and simple; re-foresting, which is of equal importance, being treated as a secondary consideration. Reforesting of denuded tracts either in, or near, arid regions is of paramount importance, whether for the purpose of alleviating or of preventing famine, but is equally desirable along the mountain that traverse the country; for the high lands, intercepting, as they do, the bulk of the rain clouds, ought to be regarded as so many cisterns, and the nomadic system of cultivation pursued by hill men in general reduces most of the ravines and valleys to bare precipitous slopes, down which the rain rushes, in the monsoon, in uncontrollable torrents, with the result that the low country is at first subjected to disastrous floods, while in the dry weather these same torrents hold barely enough water for the requirements of the inhabitants round about. Were these ravines and valleys, when abandoned, as they usually are after three or four seasons, re-forested, with either some economic quick-growing plants, such as rubber slips, chalmoogra, &c., in the damper parts of India, and Acacia dealbata in the drier, the surplus rain of the wet season would be held in suspension, as these grew up, floods to a great extent would be checked, and an ample supply of water secured for the dry months.

These views have received ample corroboration in connection with the recent military operations in Lushai land and Manipur, where the hill streams were found to be of no service for transport purposes beyond certain spots; yet there are many men still in the prime of life in those provinces who can recollect boats being able to proceed very many miles beyond the places where land transport had to be resorted to on the present occasion. Hence the importance of re-foresting denuded ravines even in the Eastern districts, with their never-failing rainfall, demands as much attention in its way as in less favoured tracts in other parts of the country. The late Mr. McIvor, of Ootacamund, had a scheme for forming an enormous reservoir, enclosed by the crescent-shaped spurs radiating from Lambton's peak in the Nilgiris; but the Consulting Engineers scouted the idea, on the ground of the extreme danger which the sudden confinement of such a vast body of water, dependent on a single bund from one point of the crescent to the other, would present, in the event of a heavy burst of rain, such as occurred in 1871. But, had the slopes of the peak been planted, such danger of suddenly gorging the reservoir would have been reduced to a minimum. McIvor, however, though this matter was pressed upon him, deemed it unnecessary, so, in the face of these conflicting opinions, the scheme was abandoned. A similar one on

a very much smaller scale was, however, sanctioned on the plateaux, the idea being to embank the Khundah River, so as to form a lake, and the history of that undertaking amply illustrated the importance of re-foresting bare hill sides. Though the bund had been constructed under the best scientific advice available, it proved quite incapable of resisting the pressure of the rush brought upon it as the monsoon set in; whereas, had the sides of the proposed lake been planted, so as to permit of the soil being rendered porous enough to retain the rain as it fell, the basin would have filled steadily, with but gradual pressure on the bund. Had this scheme succeeded, and it possessed all the elements of success, the country watered by the upper reaches of the Bhowani would have been rendered independent of its wells, which are frequently exhausted ere the regular rains set in; but the omission we have mentioned rendered the otherwise well-conceived scheme abortive.-Indian Agriculturist.

ABSORBENTS AND MANURE.-Dr. Douglas, at a recent New York Institute, spoke of the waste of manure, liquid and solid, on farms by washing and exposure. We are told by scientists it exceeds 60 per cent. of their fertilizing value. Dr. Voelcker gives the loss at 69.8, almost 70 per cent. That is, would the farmer every day put on his land directly and immediately the fertilizers taken from the stables gathered from 31 cows, he would be able to maintain the fertility of his land equally as well as he now does from 100 cows exposing the fertilizers derived from them to the rain. In order to save the liquid, the most valuable element in animal fertilizers, some absorbents should be used, such as sawdust, muck, dry leaves, which of themselves contain most valuable fertilizing qualities, or dust and dry earth, especially gypsum, native sulphate of lime, what is called ground plaster, which Liebig regards as the most efficacious in absorbing the ammonia arising from the excrements and preserving this most needful element for appropriation by the growing vegetables, grain and grass. Such absorbents would not only preserve the liquid fertilizers and prevent the more rapid destruction of the buildings, especially the walls, but also greatly promote cleanliness and save the farmer's wife and daughters from offence in performing the farm duty of milking, which has more elements of health in it to those performing the task, especially consumptives, than Koch's lymph or all the drugs and patent medicines which either medical science or quackery have ever concocted. It would also save the farmer himself from the odours that render his presence sometimes unsavory in the parlour.

INDIAN CATTLE.-At a recent monthly meeting of the Bombay Natural History Society, Mr. J. H. Steel, A.V.D., F.Z.S., read the following interesting paper, illustrating his remarks with specimens of skulls of the principal breeds of Indian cattle.

Not the least striking feature of life in India is the enormous importance of cattle and the manner in which they are extensively concerned in trade, agriculture, traffic, and food-supply. This is fully recognised in the religions of those people who are more essentially the inhabitants of India. Thus sacredness of the cow as an emblem of fruitfulness and veneration of the bull as a symbol of generative powers are characteristic features of the Hindu religion, and of these we see as outward and visible signs the Nundee or Sacred Bull occupying an honoured place in the shrines and the cow wandering freely through the streets, sleek and fat on grain appropriated from the baskets of not unwilling merchants. The sacred injunctions of the religion of the Hindus seem to have been. wisely designed with two aims; firstly, the preservation of cows in time of famine; secondly, the devotion of the best bulls to service as sires; in this way the welfare of the race of cattle in perpetuity was secured by the powerful influences of custom and superstition. The sacred books of Hindu and Buddhist, the noble pillars of Asoka, and even the statutes of various conquerors and peaceful invaders of India whose fierce or rude habits have been tamed from time to time by the gentle influences of Hinduism are full of instructions as to the care to be taken of cattle and of aphorisms. in honour of the bovine race. From time to time Hinduism has been stirred to its depths at wanton or careless affront by slaughter of cattle, and thus the welfare of horned beasts has at times had an influence on history. But the bullock, though less reverenced than the bull and cow, is even more entitled to honour. He has done good service in every war which has been carried out in India, drawing heavy guns, siege trains, baggage, and supplies, and to European armies he has often been no inconsiderable food-supply. In trade he is a most important factor; the strings of bullock carts which pass along our Bombay streets, the long lines and large herds of Brinjari cattle we meet in some parts of the country, the kind of conveyance which we have to adopt, in the majority of cases, directly we leave the line of rail, in out-of-the-way places up-country, are all evidences of this. In agriculture the plough bullock, the ox treading out the corn, and the unfortunate animals engaged at the useful but wearisome work of the well are familiar objects. In food-supply the bullock of India has little concern except when he is bought up by the Commissariat at cantonments or shipped

for use by troops on active service. The cow, however, supplies in the form of ghee, curds, and other products from milk the staple item of animal food consumed by many millions in this country. Loss of stock by disease or other catastrophe accordingly, it will be seen, dislocates existence in India. The traveller loses his means of conveyance: the beneficent but noisy operation of drawing water for irrigation can no longer be efficiently performed, the ground cannot be tilled, nor the corn threshed; as the plough lies idle so also does the cart, which should be cheerily conveying produce to the line of rail or neighbouring market. Fairs cannot be held even; religion and pleasure are suspended, and military operations are hampered and sometimes prevented by the plague which carries off cattle so frequently in times of war. This is no fanciful picture, but a stern reality familiar to District officers and Veterinary Surgeons and painfully evident to Government in its effects on the revenues, which are reduced to a minus quantity through the necessity of supplying grain or fresh bullocks to the cultivators. We often hear surprise expressed that in India care is bestowed on cattle which ought first to be given to man; but it must be remembered that in supplying to cattle adequate medical treatment, sufficiency of fodder, legislative protection from cruelty, and a special department to look after their welfare, the public and its Government are but following the dictates of necessity and fulfilling the requirements of human existence and welfare in this country. The Cow Protection Movement, the development of Pinjrapoles, and the retention alive throughout the country of poor brutes suffering from debility, wounds, or disease are merely exaggerated expressions of a deep current of religious feeling (and of the sound policy which underlies it) with regard to cattle. In this land of ancient and venerable faiths, various rulers have from time to time shown. an enlightened policy as regards cattle protection. Even the Mogul Emperors found it judicious to repress any tendency of their followers to wound the susceptibilities of their Hindu subjects, and among Mussulman sovereigns Hyder Ali and his son Tippu Sahib of Mysore have rendered most excellent services, lasting to the present day, in their fostering care of the AmrutMahal breed of cattle, one of the finest in India. History shows that the Hindu princes, as in Kathiawar, Marwar, Nellore, and elsewhere, also have succeeded in development of fine breeds of cattle, and indeed the Mysore breed dates its fame and origin from the time of Hindu rule before Hyder. Governments of the Honourable Company and that of her Imperial Majesty have been not unmindful of this important matter. Thus there is at Hissar, in the Pun