l.

Dr. J.V.C. Smith, writing from Switzerland, to the editor of the
"Boston Medical Journal," says:--

"Immense crops are raised here of articles wholly unknown to the
American farmers, and perhaps the kinds best fitted to particular
localities where grain and potatoes yield poorly under the best
efforts. One of these is poppies. Thousands of acres are at this
moment ready for market--which the traveller takes for granted, as
he hurries by, are to be manufactured into opium. They are not,
however, intended for medical use at all, but for a widely different
purpose. From the poppy seed a beautiful transparent oil is made,
which is extensively used in house painting. It is almost as
colorless as water, and possesses so many advantages over the flax
seed oil that it may ultimately supersede that article. Where flax
cannot be grown poppies often can be, in poor sandy soil. Linseed
oil is becoming dearer, and the demand for paint is increasing. With
white lead, poppy oil leaves a beautiful surface, which does not
afterwards change, by the action of light, into a dirty yellow.
Another season some one should make a beginning at home in this
important branch of industry. The oil may be used for other
purposes, and even put in the cruet for salads."

TALLICOONAH or KUNDAH OIL, is obtained from the seeds of the _Carapa
Touloucouna_ (of the Flore de Senegambie). The tree grows to the
height of 40 feet; the fruit is a large, somewhat globular five-celled
capsule. The seeds (of which there are from 18 to 30 in each capsule),
vary in size from that of a chesnut to a hen's egg. They are
three-cornered, of a brownish or blackish red color. It is found
abundantly in the Timneh country, and over the colony of Sierra Leone.
It is manufactured in the following manner:--The nuts having been well
dried in the sun, are hung up in wicker racks or hurdles, and exposed
to the smoke of the huts, after which they are roasted and subjected
to trituration in large wooden mortars, until reduced to a pulp. The
mass is then boiled, when the supernatant oil is removed by skimming.
The natives principally prepare the oil to afford light; the leaves
are used by the Kroomen as a thatch. It is held in high estimation as
an anthelmintic. The oil is sold in Sierra Leone at 2s. a gallon, and
could be procured in abundance from the coast as an article of
commerce.

CARAP or CRAB OIL (