It is claimed that this product contains from five to six times the quantity of nicotine that may be found in ordinary tobacco juice, and that therefore one-fifth to one-sixth of the quantity will accomplish the object to which it is applied.

For spraying purposes, the product is employed in the proportion of one part of juice to one hundred parts of water. It is stated that the spraying of plants should be done after sunset, and that they should be sprinkled with clear water on the following day. For fumigating hothouses, the proportion is one part of juice to five of water. The mixture is sprayed upon bricks or iron sheets heated to a temperature sufficiently high to produce rapid evaporation. It is claimed that insects and parasites are absolutely destroyed by this process. It is said, furthermore, that the preparation is most efficacious for the destruction of all insects on cattle, as well as being a preventive of all manner of parasitic attacks. For these purposes, the juice is mixed in the proportion of one part to twenty of water. It is recommended that the lotion be not used as a general bath, but applied gradually on limited surfaces. It should not be brought in contact with sores or erosions of any kind. The benefits accruing from the use of these mixtures are said to be greatly enhanced by mixing 100 grams (3.5274 ounces) of soda crystals with each liter (1.0567 quarts) of diluted juice.

Regarding the use made of this product in this department, I may say that it is rapidly coming into general favor for all the purposes mentioned above. I have seen it used with complete success in curing what is popularly called here "le noir." This parasitic affliction is not confined to orange, lemon, olive, and other trees, but has been most disastrous to such vegetables as potatoes, beans, pease, tomatoes, etc. I have seen whole rows of orange trees so thickly coated with parasites that every leaf appeared coated with soot (hence the popular appellation "le noir"); and I have been enabled to verify the fact that three or four applications of the lotion. have prevented the disease from attacking new leaves and have caused the disappearance of the black deposit upon those attacked. A proprietor of an olive grove here has assured me that the use of the juice in combating "le noir," which has destroyed many thousands of olive trees in this department, is most costly, but at the same time very efficacious.

The spraying machines used to spread the mixture are the same as those employed in applying sulphate of copper to vineyards. I have tried to ascertain whether the use of tobacco juice would not be more desirable in treating vines for the cure of the "oidium "--a parasitic disease of the vine leaves-than sulphate of copper, but I have not found anyone who has experimented with the two treatNo. 229 4.

ments.

It would appear, at first sight, that tobacco juice would be the better, as sulphate has always been considered a preventive of attacks upon the grapes themselves, especially after the bunches are completely developed, whereas the oidium attacks only the leaves and indirectly the vitality of the plant.

MEASURES AGAINST THE PLAGUE AT MARSEILLES.

The steady westward advance of the plague, which has now reached Alexandria and from its Egyptian point of attack menaces Europe, is directing attention to Marseilles as the great Mediterranean port, from which much is expected by way of preventive measures and feared by way of possibilities. Certainly, at this moment, the city is in better sanitary condition than for years. As for precautions against the importation of disease, I may cover the whole subject by translating a letter written at my request by the director of health for the city and port. That officer addresses me as follows:

MARSEILLES, June 21, 1899.

To the Consul of the United States of America, Marseilles.

DEAR SIR: In reply to your inquiry of June 20, I beg to inform you that the sanitary police regulations contained in the decree of January 4, 1896, are applied in their entirety to arrivals from contaminated countries.

Such ships as arrive without having on board any sick persons, and have not had such sick persons on board after their departure from the port suspected, are admitted to free entry after

(1) Disinfection of linen, clothing, bedding, etc., in sweating rooms under steam pressure. (NOTE.-Many ships, and particularly the fleet of the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes and the greater part of the fleet of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, are provided with sweating rooms and perform this operation while en route, thus diminishing their time of detention at Frioul, the port of quarantine for Marseilles.)

(2) Individual medical inspection of all passengers and crew.

(3) Disinfection by pulverized sublimate or other chemical process of the compartments of the ship, including particularly water-closets, common living rooms, holds, etc.

(4) The water in the hold, after first being mixed with sulphate of copper in solution, is discharged before the arrival of the ship in the basins of the port of Marseilles.

(5) The store of drinking water is thrown out.

(6) Passports (sanitary) are delivered to each passenger, and the authorities of the countries to which they are bound are advised of their coming, in order that a surveillance may be continued for ten days, counting from the date of departure from the contaminated port.

As to measures applied to infected ships, they are set forth under Title VII of

the regulation of 1896. Until now, we have applied them only in cases of yellow fever (last year) and of cholera.

Such, in brief, is our method of procedure.

Receive, dear sir, the assurance of my most distinguished consideration.

ANTONIN CATELAN,

Director of Health.

Under Title VII of the French regulations I find that cases of sickness on infected ships are immediately landed and isolated until their cure. Other persons are landed and kept under observation for a period depending upon the sanitary state of the vessel and the date of the last case. The duration of this observation can not be more than five days for cholera and seven days for yellow fever and the plague, counting from the date of landing or the date of the last case of sickness among crew or passengers. All operations connected with the maintenance of public health are performed for Marseilles on the Island of Frioul, an admirably situated and equipped locality, several miles out in the harbor and in full view of the city. ROBERT P. SKINNER,

MARSEILLES, June 26, 1899.

Consul.

THE PLAGUE SITUATION IN EGYPT.

The plague situation in Alexandria, Egypt, is now such that rigid quarantine measures against importations from that city have been. adopted at about every important Mediterranean port except Marseilles. In this city, ships arriving from Alexandria are at present subjected to inspection and disinfection as described in a recent report to the Department of State. The state of affairs in Alexandria is thus made clear in a letter to the Semaphore, the commercial authority of Marseilles, bearing date of June 26, since which time. daily reports of cases and deaths have been made:

The epidemic neither increases nor diminishes. One or two new cases are reported almost daily, with occasional intervals when none are reported. A fact worthy of remark since the outbreak of the plague is that the disease does not seem to be propagated by direct contact. There is no record of repeated cases in the same house. Immediately upon the sending to the hospital of individuals suspected to have the plague, all those who have been allowed to approach them, and especially those who have inhabited the same houses, are sent to a lazaret outside the city. It seems inexplicable that no suspected case has broken out among those who are known to have been in direct contact with individuals now down with the disease.

The malady seems to attack certain classes of persons. Until now almost as many Greeks as natives have been taken with it. At the most one or two wives of

natives have been attacked. As to the.Greeks, most of the cases are young children of 13 to 14 years of age, grocers' delivering boys usually, and never more than 30 years of age. This seems most extraordinary. The hypothesis that the disease has been carried by comestibles seems most unlikely, because cases of plague have occurred among those who certainly did not use products bought of the grocers.

In a total of twenty cases among the natives, ten police guards are included, who took the contagion in the houses first infected. The others now sick are scattered in all quarters of the city between which the corelation seems to exist. Considerations such as the foregoing create in some minds doubt as to whether the malady now prevailing is really the plague.

The municipality and the sanitary service of the city display tireless zeal in the present situation. Measures of prevention have been taken on every hand. The city is divided into quarters, and at the head of each are two physicians. Visits are made to homes of natives, and invalids suspected are immediately removed to the hospitals, and the most minute precautions are then taken to prevent the spread of disease from the suspected habitation. As I have explained, all those who have been in contact with the suspect are sent to a lazaret.

In order that too great a hardship may not be imposed, all persons put into quarantine and thus prevented from working are paid a small sum daily. By this course families of suspects are kept in a state of contentment.

A premium of 2 francs (38 cents) is given to any individual who will inform the authorities of cases of plague, and a premium of 1 franc (19 cents) is offered for the head of every rat dead of the plague. Until the present, nobody has claimed this last premium. The prize is too small to attract men who might otherwise take the consequences of coming into contact with the disease. Although the natives are skeptical as to the contraction of disease from rats, they are not courageous enough to run the risk of danger.

MARSEILLES, July 6, 1899.

ROBERT P. SKINNER,

Consul.

TRADE CONDITIONS IN PERSIA.

Under the caption "Germany's trade with Persia," a writer in a leading Chemnitz paper points out this Empire's position in that country. He says, among other things, that Germany is very poorly represented in Persia. In the northern part of the Shah's dominions are no German houses at all. In the south, quite recently, a German company had made business connections, but as yet to little or no purpose; since to do business in Persia a knowledge of language, customs, and habits of the people is absolutely necessary. The imports-which, by the way, are very considerable-are almost entirely in England's hands.

Persia, says the writer, who has lived eighteen years in Shiras, is not very rich. The population is made up, for the most part, of nomadic tribes that move from one grazing place to another. In the

midst of these vast grazing tracts are the larger cities. In Teheran, the capital, one finds the richer classes. Bushire and Bender Abbas are ports where goods enter for transmission to the interior by means of caravans. The carrying is done by mules and camels. Roads and means of transportation are very primitive, but it very seldom happens that a caravan is robbed. Commerce is active. The imports are sugar in boxes and bags, candles, iron, cloths, cotton goods, ironwares, stonewares, copper, tea, indigo, leather, articles of luxury, etc. In articles of luxury, the prospects for a large business are excellent.

To establish oneself in Persia, a large capital is almost indispensable. One needs from $40,000 to $50,000. The Persian does not pay cash. He never wants less than three months' credit. To sell on such long time, one should have considerable local information. It is hard to get facts as to a firm's or a merchant's standing. Sales for cash are possible only when very small quantities are disposed of when the supply is small and the demand large. Money in Persia pays from 12 to 18 per cent, and merchants seldom if ever do business on a basis that pays less. Europeans are always ready to sell, since 6 per cent is the best they can expect at home, and credit sales pay well. It takes two and one-half to three months for goods to arrive in the interior of Persia after they leave London. Thus, the goods are two months in transit, are sold on three months' time, and before the merchant in London gets his money seven or eight months have passed.

German houses, says this merchant of Shiras, shrink from sales when the Persian merchant puts his time of payment months ahead. Because of this, business is very seldom done by German houses. Besides, Germans, who have no good representative in Persia, run great risks. Their hesitation to hand over goods to unknown parties is reasonable. Business, therefore, with all its profits, remains in English hands. Another point to be carefully considered by parties desiring to do business in Persia is that a house must have everything on hand from a button to a big Krupp gun.

Russia is rapidly rising to a very important place in trade, especially in central Persia. The Russians, however, do not come themselves, but are represented by Persians or Armenians. They sell large quantities of Russian glass and stone ware. In these lines, they have no competitors-first, because the importation via Bagdad, because of Turkish tolls, is too expensive, and, second, because the goods come from the neighboring Russian frontier provinces and meet Persian needs. For instance, samovars, cheap mirrors or looking-glasses, drinking glasses, etc., are sold. German merchants might do a very large business in beet sugar, since it is preferred to