Colunthia College in the City of Lew York. Library. GIVEN BY Prof. NUL. -Brilton. iy ii. . f es ta re al D phe Pend SPO a a ATs een ‘ ty 7 hea 4 on d* ae i Mss 08 + ie Nay oe i v y b " ‘- f a ae had o gS TS - 4 ~ er a a aden a is 4 a 2 i\ ¥ ae 7 ix Ranta | BULLETIN OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, JAMAICA. EDITED BY WILLIAM FAWCETT, B.Sc., F.LS. Director of Public Gardens and Plantations. New Series. Vol. III. KINGSTON, JAMAICA: GOVERNMENT Printine Orrics, 79, DuKE STREEY. 1896. = - ) yy => * Nagel, : 1 4 woe > a a oe ee ‘op % | 17 ) . 7) Leo oe New Series.] JANUARY, 1896. Vol. TIT. : oer Ges 38 Fe é Part 1. ——— —— - = BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, JAMAICA, A WILLIAM FAWCETT, B.Sc., F.LS. : Director of Public Gardens and Plantations. | CONTENTS: Rum Aroma: III. — — pace 1 Notes on the Orange - _ 7 Coccide or Scale Insects: VIII. _ 8 Insecticides - 10 Grants for Agricultural Bdueation - 13 Notes on curing Cocoa - _ 15 Notes on Kola - “ 16 Orris Root a 18 Wild Lime se a 18 Ornamental Plants be 19 Kucalyptus Oilin Yellow Fever = 19 Ferns: Synoptical List—XXXII wie 20 Castleton Gardens | = 99 Contributions to the Department 2 23 P RIC E—Threepence. A Copy will be supplied free to any Resident in Jamaica, who wilk send Name and i; Address to the Director of Public Gardens and Plantations, Gordon Town P.U. AI UFT UMW CUD CAM CAA CAM CHM eh ted KINGSTON, JAMAICA; GovERNMENT PRintTING OrrFics, 79 Duxe STREET. 1896. : ne “= ne : ‘4 — | coke ee JAMAICA. BULLETIN OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT. Vol. IIT. New Series. ] JANUARY, 1896. Patt CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF THE PRO- DUCTION OF THE AROMA IN RUM. By Percrvat H. Gree, TIL Tue OL or RuM AND THE ORGANIC BaszEs. Every Distiller knows that rum made from pure fresh cane juice is devoid of any pronounced flavour, as compared with rum made from skimmings, molasses and dunder. Itisalso generally asserted that rum can only be made from juice, or the residue of juice, whic. has gone through the process of sugar boiling; though what particular part of that process it is which constitutes the deciding influence is not known. My experiments lead me to conclude that it 1s the heating of the juice with lime which is the essential part of that process. I have already shewn in the Bulletin for September, the part which I believe the treatment of the juice with lime to play in the production of the fruity acid in rum; though it is probable that the nature of the influence is different to that which I suggested in article No. 2 of this series. Experiments which are not yet completed, seem to indicate that the fruity acid is an oxidation product of the essential oil ; at any rate observations extended over a considerable period, shew that the fruity acid in samples of cane juice which have been treated with al- kali and then sterilised increases considerably on standing exposed to sterilised air. This change whatever may be the nature of it, takes place in alkaline as well as in acid solutions, though in the former ease the change is of course not discernible, until the liquid has been acidi- fied. The influence of the lime in that case is antecedent, partial, and indirect, but lime also exercises a direct and complete influence on the aroma, in setting free the essential oil of Rum, 233413 ~— FeAS@ Ge eo . Se eet fee e arene tas 2 dle WG. i @ e¢ ° e a4 e © « > © ee a -The.way to .pro sivtple;; ‘ginge if wwe take and extract by a suitable solvent for this oil, and chiroforit ‘answers this purpose the best, a sample of cane juice whi¢h has beén divited:into three parts, of which No. I, is extracted ‘without ‘aby “previous ‘treatment, No. II, after it has been boiled without lime, and No. III after it has been boiled with lime; and if we find on the evaporation of the chloroform solutions. from these portions, that fractions I and II, leave no aromatic residue, but that fraction III does, we have proof positive that the action of lime, or caustic alkali, is necessary for the production of these aromatic residues. This has been the method employed in these investigations. The considerations which led to this discovery were :— 1. The use of alkali in enabling No. 18 yeast to produce its charactristic aroma. 2. The failure to extract any aromatic oils from untreated cane juice, or from rum made entirely from such cane juice. 3. The discovery of this essential oilin Rum made in the ordinary manner. 4, That the treatment of the juice with lime, is the only strictly chemical treatment, to which the juice on the majority of estates in this country is subjected. The odour of this essential oil may be best described by calling it the essential oil of Rum, since it has a peculiar and indescribable smell of rum, and, without doubt, it is to the presence in it of this oil, that rum owes its characteristic aroma; an aroma which is so utterly different to- that of any other spirit. It is of an oily nature, and a small quantity will remain for a considerable time in a glass exposed to the air without entirely losing its strength; and I should say therefore that it is to this property that rum owes its oiliness, ‘‘ body” and permanency of aroma which distinguishes genuine rum from any artificial imitation. After having been set free by caustic alkali from its combination in a natural state, it does not appear to be further acted upon by alkalis or dilute H, SO, ; but strong H, SO, seems to dissolve it with formation of a faint pink colour, which may be due to carbonization. It is readily soluble in chloroform, alcohol, and water. If a portion of cane juice, containing this oil, be filtered absolutely brilliant, the quantity of oil which can be extracted does not appear to have been lessened by filtra- tion. Of course, this does not dispose of the objection that it might be found floating at the top, or forming a layer at the bottom of the liquid, in the form of an oil insoluble and lighter or heavier than the liquid with which it was associated; but, on carefully scrutinizing the filtrate, I have not been able to observe any such phenomenon. It is true that if we take a sample of cane juice, heat it with lime, and then let it settle and absorb air in some deep and narrow vessel, a Nessler’s reagent glass or test-tube for instance, that a band of darker colour may be observed at the top on cooling, but this is due to oxidation, probably of glucose compounds, and, on shaking the tube, the dark brown band at the top mixes easily with the lower portion of the liquid. It is also true that a waxy film may be observed floating on the top of such liquor, but it possesses merely a wax-like aroma, and is probably palmitic acid. That rove this, when once this has been discovered, is very 3 there is a large amount of wax in cane juice has been known for a long lime, and palmitic acid has been found in rum.* It would appear, there- fore, that in the process of manufacture a considerable portion of this aro- matic oil will be lost, since being soluble in water it cannot be separated by the preliminary clarification process in the cyphons, but must pass from thence into the coppers, where a good deal of it will be dissipated in the form of vapour. Toa certain extent no doubt as the liquor gets concentrated by ebullition, and the essential oil has less water for its solution, and as the density of the liquor increases, it may rise to the top in an insoluble form, in which it can be skimmed off. But on these points further investigation is necessary. Its boiling point appears to be comparatively high. It comes over from the still in the later runnings and can be extracted from dunder in considerable quantity, and I have succeeded in extracting in small quan- tity from molasses. ‘The fact of its boiling point being high and that it can be extracted from dunder, shews us at once that we do not obtain by our distillation process, so much of this oil in our rum as we might do. It seems also to indicate that the use of patent continuous stills with high rectifying columns, would certainly be attended with a minimisation of the aroma of the rum in so far as this was due to the essential oil; and it suggests to us as to whether or no this may not be the reason as to why a low still head produces a better rum than a very high one—this seeming ‘to be a pretty general opinion among Planters. If this should prove to be the case, it would seem as if the addition of an extra retort filled with cane juice, which had been properly treated for the production of the essential oil, through which the alcoholic vapours would have to pass, would be a distinct advantage: though certainly care would have to be taken that the lime was not present in excess, as this would lead to a decomposing of the “ fruit ethers” which might come over with the alcoholic vapours. It is interesting to note that somthing of this sort appears to be done in some parts of the colony though instead of lime, common salt appears to be used. What was said in a previous paper concerning the possibility of the existence of different ‘fruity acids” in different canes. and in different soils,, applies equally to this oilof rum. But here again a chemical examination of juice from different sources alone can decide. I am inclined to think however, after having examined rums from different estates and from different parishes, that, with the exception perhaps of the “‘ new leather” smell, which may be caused bythe presencein therum of some single substance possessing that aroma, and which is not found in other rums, that variation is more to be sought for inthe quantity in which this oil is present than that different soils each possess a char- acteristically different essential oil. ‘Turning to the results obtained in the examination of samples of juice taken at different times from the mill from the same estate, I have been surprised by the marked differ- ences exhibited in the quantity of this oil present. Im very many cases it does not appear to be present at all. So far the samples have been taken at random from the mill without any attention having been paid asto the soil on which the canes yielding such juice were grown,or as to the nature of the cane whether plant or rat- * Mulder. Jahresbericht fiir Chemie, 1858, p. 302. toon. But having once established these two important facts, viz., the necessity of heating with temper lime or fixed caustic alkali to set this essential oil free, and that the amount in which it is present varies so widely, we are now in a position to carry on a syste- matic examination of cane juice from different soils witha view to ascertain what is the determining cause of such variations; while it is evident that until such variations had been proved to occur, that any investigation in this direction could not be undertaken. It may bea matter of surprise to some, that if such variations do occur, that a greater variation in the quality of the rum from the same estate is not noticed. But the truth is that from the nature of our manufacturing process such changes in the character of the juice and the rum manu- factured from it, must to a great extent remain hidden from us. In the parish of Westmoreland at any rate, it is the cus- tom to mix and grind the canes from different fields simultaneously, so that the liquor, which finds its way to the still-house, is in no sense a representative sample of any particular cane piece, and the same may be said of the molasses. Coming to the still-house, we not only use the liquor of a previous setting, t.e., the dunder, but many estates preserve their dunder from crop to crop; and in so far as concerns the distilla- tion, not only is a double still frequently used, but also a retort-contain- ing a charge from the previous distillation, while, finally, the liquor is stored in butts of large capacity before racking into the puncheons. Yet, in spite of all this, anyone who watches the rum carefully, cannot fail to notice variations, and it is notorious that a difference in the quality of the shipments, from the same estate, is often commented on in Eng- land. THE Oreanic Bases. But the treatment of the juice with lime also finds expresssion in the aroma and taste of the rum, in a distinctly wnfavourable manner. It is owing to this that the organic bases or bodies of an alkaloidal uature are set free and are found in that state in the rum. A sample of rum shaken up with chloroform left behind, in addition to the essential oil, a vile smelling residue, the smell of which completely hid that of the essential oil, and resembled almost exactly the smell and taste of the dark brown liquid which may be found in the stem of a foul tobacco pipe. There seems very little doubt that this must be due to the presence in the rum of some organic base of the pyridene group, and last crop I succeeded in producing the same smell in cane juice by heating it with excess of causticlime. During this crop, curious to relate, I have not been able to detect it in the samples of cane juice which I have up to now examined, but it must be understood that no systematic search for it has been carried out. ButI have never yet failed to detect the presence in large quantity of some kind of bases or alkaloidal bodies in cane juice which I have heated with excess of lime, and I have so far never yet failed to detect them in greater or less quantity in Jamaica rum. The influence of these bases on the rum is to make it dry and harsh, and I should say, judging from personal experience, that the action of rum on the human system containing these bases in any appreciable quantity is not beneficial. ‘There seews very little reason to doubt, that it is the presence of these bodies which renders new rum almost undrinkable. Anyone who has had an opportunity of smelling ok Aas -~ 4 5 these vile compounds, when isolated from the more agreeable smelling constituents of rum, could hardly be in doubt as to the desirability of doing away with them if possible. But can this be done? There seems to me no doubt that it can. If cane juige be tempered with gradually increasing quantities of alkali, starting say from an amount sufficient to produce neutrality, it will be found that these vile smelling substances can only be ex- tracted when a considerable excess of alkali has been used, and that by using moderate quantities of alkali it is quite possible to set free the essential oil of rum, without setting free these vile smelling bases. It will thus be seen that the tempering of the liquor is of great importance, not only to the process of sugar boiling but also to the manufacture of rum. As a result of my experiments in this direction I am able to say, that whenever the liquor is tempered until it becomes of a deep fiery orange to a ruby red colour, that there is danger of these organic bases having been set free. It would appear then that a moderation in tempering is an essential point in the preparation of a good drinking rum, inasmuch as it would tend to furnish a rum of a mild, soft character, devoid of that dryness and harshness due to the presence of these organic bases, and thus fitter for immediate consumption: though whether this would equally hold good in the case of German Rum, in which I believe as much “ flavour” as possible is desired, may remain a disputed point. On the other hand, on estates with heavy badly drained clay soils, rather heavy liming is, I believe, found to be necessary, which probably stands in intimate connection with the destruction of the glucose, which would be found in larger quantity in canes grown on lands where all the conditions necessary to the thorough ripening of the cane were not present. Be- sides the effect on the flavour, these organic bases have a very disastrous effect on the fermentation. As the result of a large number of fermen- tation experiments, performed with No. 18 yeast, I have found this to be invariably the case, and this enables us to make a shrewd guess as to what would be the effect of such bases on the human system. The yeast is in fact poisoned. The amount of lime then used in the tempering of the liquor may not only have an effect on the flavour of the rum, but also on the progress of the fermentation, and it does not seem at all improbable that some of the disasters of the Still House may be due to the treatment of the juice in the Boiling House. I hope, however, at some future time to be able to furnish some more definite and interesting information on this point. Lime therefore exercises a potent influence both for good and evil. Thus indirectly, it sets free the fruity acid. While directly it sets free— (1). The essential oil of rum. (2). Various kinds of organic bases or alkaloidal bodies. As regards the nature of the chemical reactions which take place, it seems to me that we can pretty well infer it from the nature of the reagent used, and of the substances set free. The only reactions which can take place as far as 1 am aware are those of hydration and interchange of lime for the volatile organic bases or alkaloids combined with acids. In tempering cane juice, which for this experiment may be most con- 6 veniently performed by an easily soluble fixed alkali, such ascaustic soda, it will be found, if the alkali, be used with caution, that a gradual disappearance of the fixed alkali takes place as the heating progresses. In this respect it is instructive to compare the behaviour of the two in- dicators phenol-phthalein and litmus; the former shewing us the gradual disappearance of the fixed alkali, while from the behaviour of the latter, we should imagine that the fixed alkali was still present in excess. That this is not so can also be proved by distilling the liquor, when the distillate will be found to behave exactly the same towards the two indicators, blueing litmus and having no effect on phenol- phthalein—due of course to the setting free of volatile organic bases; which have no effect on phenol-phthalein: it need hardly be said that this is not due to the liberation of ammonia. But whatever conclusions may be ultimately arrived at as to the exact nature of the chemical changes, and as to the nature of the products of such decompositions, it will not [ think be denied by anyone who carefully goes into the matter that the tempering of the liquor in the Boiling House has a very decided influence on the aroma of the Rum. No one who examines the residues which result from the chloroform and ether extractions of cane juice, be- fore and after the treatment with lime, can have a doubt of this while an examination of almost any rum, which has been manufactured in this country, using the aforementioned solvents, will enabie him to discover the same smelling substances which can be extracted from treated cane juice. It is not of course contended that the whole of the aroma of Rum is due to this cause, but I do not hesitate to say that directly and in- directly a very considerable part of it is. And moreover in breaking fresh ground, as I believe I am in these researches, it was considered more important to attempt to localise the chief points of interest and to ascertain the actual facts of the case, rather than to dwell on the theoretical side of the question, which becomes of importanc: only in relation to facts. These researches too were commenced in the first instance with one object in view, viz to elucidate the nature of the action of No. 18 yeast in producing its characteristic aroma. I very soon found that I was working in the dark on this very interesting question, and it is only now on having learnt the nature and the result of the action of temper lime on cane juice, that | am encouraged to be- lieve that I have found the solution of this previously difficult problem. But of this more anon. It is obvious however that even the practical side of the question is far from being exhausted, and an ever broadening field of investigation is opened up. If one may be allowed to theorize a little, there seems sufficient grounds for concluding, from the results which I have up to now attained, that though the aroma of rum is in the first instance derived from the soil, that this influence is chiefly potential not actual; that it is latent, dormant, and only brought into existence during the process of manufacture. If this should prove to be the case, it would seem to hold out a hope that much may be done to improve our rums both for the home trade in England and for export to Germany ; and to imply a rebuke against muiuwuring with folded hands—“ it’s the soil that does it.” yo >} oe , 7 NOTES ON THE ORANGE. PRUNING. The operation of pruning a full-grown Orange tree is best done as soon as the fruit is picked, and before the tree is in full blossom. All dead and diseased wood should be cut out. The cut should be made, if possible, just into the living healthy wood, so that no canker be left. Branches which rub against each other should also be removed. The head of the Orange tree should be encouraged to grow open, so as to allow light and air free access, otherwise moss, lichens, and other injurious growths accumulate on the stem and branches. An open head also encourages the extension of the lower branches, so that the tree can produce more fruit. The small inner branches are of no use, as they produce no fruit, and steal away the sap from the fertile terminal branches. ‘“‘Gormandisors” should be cut off as soon as they appear, unless they are required to fill up vacant spaces, or to shelter the lower part of the stem. In these cases they require bending carefully into the proper positions, and tying down to stakes. Any branches which actually touch the ground should be trimmed or removed. It is well to commence pruning while the plants are still young, 2 or 3 years old, as it is much more easy to get the tree to grow into proper shape, and it is possible then, to shorten the branches without injury. The tools necessary for pruning are a knife, a small saw, and a pair of shears—a cutlass should not be allowed under any pretence. ‘The in- struments should be kept very sharp, as a clean cut heals quickly, and a jagged one may only do harm by starting canker. The saw is used in removing large branches. The knife can then be applied to make the saw cut smooth; it is also used in removing small branches. The shears may be used for removing dead wood, thorns, and some of the smaller ranches. GREEN DReEssIne. Dr. Grabham writes as follows :— “Now that Orange cultivation is so much to the front, I intended to have mentioned to you how useful the employment of a green dress- ing had proved in the plantations in the Azores and Madeira. ‘The plants most commonly used are the Lupine which is allowed to grow under the trees, and then dug into the ground; and the Broom (Sarothamnus scoparius) branches of which cut off are buried in the -ground.”’ Lupines grow remarkably well in Jamaica, and are a weed in some coffee estates in the Blue Mountains. The flowers are very ornamental, and it is doubtful whether any native plant would answer the purpose better. The advantage of green dressing with lupines is that they will supply nitrogen from the air to the soil (see ‘‘ Assimilation of Nitrogen by plants” in Bulletin for August, 1895); and will also serve the purpose of humus in the soil which not only also provides nitrogen, but assists in the preparation of the soil as plant food. 8 COCCIDZ OR SCALE INSECTS.—VIII. By T. D. A. CockEerett, Professor of Entomology at the New Mexico Agricultural College. : Genus Asterolecanium ; the Fringed scales. Small round, oval or elongated scales, with a microscopical fringe of fine threads. This includes the genus Planchonia, which does not suffi- ciently differ from Asferolecanium. (43) Grass pastures, as it is the only grass that kills the White Head Weed. It is a perfect success. On wet soil plant the Para Grass about 14 inches apart and on dry soil 6 inches. If time is given, on the very poorest soil, it will take strong root and kill even hog-:neat and other bad creepers. The above grass fattens quicker than Guinea Grass, pro- duces much heavier crops and lessens cleaning expenses. When thoroughly established, it requires no cleaning, and, of course, this gives it a pull over all other feeding.” The whole subject of grasses for fodder is so important to Penkeepers in the Island, that in this month’s issue is reprinted a most valuable article from the Kew Bustin on Tropical Fodder Grasses. THE VANILLA MARKET. The extraordinary advance in the price of vanilla which has been going on for some months is sufficiently peculiar to warrant a.review of the causes that have brought about the ruling quotations. Mexico, the country from which, originally, all the vanillas of com- merce were derived, has long ceased to have any direct interest for the European vanilla-dealer. The bulk of that portion of its crop which is exported finds a sale in the United States, and it is only when an abun- dant Mexican supply causes an overplus to be thrown upon the Euro- pean market, or when, in scanty years, the United States have to sup- plement with Hastern vanilla the want that Mexico is temporarily una- ble to fill, that the condition of the Mexican crop arouses a certain amount of interest in England and France. In normal times the European vanilla supply is drawn from the islands in the Indian Ocean that cluster around Madagascar, to wit, the English possessions of Mauritius and the Seychelles Islands, and the 43 French colony of Réunion, or Bourbon, as it used to be called. To these sources of production must be added intermittent supplies from the Comorin Islands (French), north-west of- Madagascar, from Mada- gascar itself, from Fiji, from Ceylon, and from a few West India islands. But the last-named islands supply only small quantities, and as their vanilla is usually of a very inferior quality it may be left out of account in a review of the general market position. The lineage of almost all the vanilla now produced in the eastern hemisphere can be traced back to plants of Vanilla plantfolia brought to England from Mexico early in the present century, and propagated in the botanical collection of the Right Hon. Charles Greville in the unromantic neighbourhood of Paddington. From those suburban hot- houses plants were sent to Java and to Réunion, where, after a few un- successful attempts, a valuable industry was established. In an account of the Réunion vanilla culture, published over twenty years ago by M. Deltiel, it is recorded that the vanilla plants introduced into Réunion remained sterile until, about the year 1841, a slave named Albius dis- covered the method of artificial fertilisation of the flowers which has since been practised in the Indian islands. Two years earlier, however, Professor Morren, of Liége, had read a paper referring to the artificial fertilisation of vanilla before the British Association, and Albius may therefore have been a plagiarist, or—what seems more likely—an inde- pendent discoverer of the sec et Be this as it may, the vanilla industry in the islands of the Indian ocean is now firmly established, although its profits are precarious. When vanillin was first introduced as a commercial article, now a good many yearsago, the plantersand others interested in the vanilla trade were much scared at the new competition; but events have shown that their fears were unfounded, for although the use of vanillin may have pre- vented the consumption of vanilla from assuming such large proportions as it would otherwise have done, it has not in the least proved an ob- stacle to the profitable cultivation of the vanilla plant, and it is notori- ous that the employment of vanilla has greatly increased of late years. It is also noteworthy that vanillin is now lower in price than it has ever been, while fine vanilla realises higher figures than it has done for years. It seems, in fact, that in many instances the commercial pre- paration of a synthetic product, after creating a temporary depression in the market of the natural drug which it is intended to replace, finds a place side by side with the sale of that product, and remains there- after comparatively powerless to affect the commercial position of the natural article. Cumarin and artificial musk are cases in point in addi- tion to vanillin The future course of the vanilla market will be largely influenced by the receipts of Réunion (Bourbon) and Seychelles vanilla in the course of the next three months. When the first arrivals of the new vanilla crop came to hand in October, the stocks had fallen to a very low point everywhere. Since then there has been but little chance of accumula- tion owing to the strong demand, but at present the bulk of the crop is coming in, and it remains to be seen whether buyers will be able to ab- sorb it with a rapidity approaching that with which it arrives. The principal stock of vanilla in Europe is usually kept in France, especially at Paris and Bordeaux, where the bulk of the Bourbon crop is received 44 in consignment, and whence considerable quantities are habitually sent to London for sale. In September, just before the arrival of the new erop, a stock of from 15,000-20,000 kilos in Bordeaux, and as big a one in Paris and Marseilles combined, used to be a fair average, but this year the supplies in France did not by any means reach the lowest of these figures, while the London stock was below, rather than above, its usual scanty figure of about 2,000 lbs. The crops of vanilla in Réunion, Maritius, and the Seychelles have been unusually small, and it is said that the crop which is now beginning to arrive will again be a very poor one, while reports of total failure have come from Mexico for mauy weeks. As the United States require from 130,100 to 150,000 Ibs. of vanilla every year, they have been obliged for some time to purchase vanilla in Europe, and their orders have helped not a little to increase the competition and advance the market price of the drug. The Ame- rican requirements are probably rather larger than those of the rest of the world together, and we do not estimate the total consumption of vanilla at much over 250,000 lbs. a year. Setting aside the Mexican produc- tion, and that from the smaller sources of supply, we can count upon an average output of about 160,000 Ibs. a year in Réunion, and of about 60,000 lbs. a year in Mauritius and the Seychelles. With an average crop, therefore, the present production of vanilla is ample, and if the exceptionally high prices of this year should | ad to an extension of cultivation, we may be confronted with a large over-production within a very few years. For although vanilla is very sensitive to climatic influences, the plant is easy of propagation and yields arapid return, as the vines begin to bear in their third year, and may continue to yield fruit until their fortieth. Fortunately for those who sell the article, it seems that comparatively few planters can grow it successfully. In Java, where vanilla was introduced in 1819, the culture was at one time of great importance, but at present the island hardly counts as a pro- ducer. In Mauritius, also, vanilla-growing seems to be dying out. The exports from that island fell from 37,600 lbs. in 1892 to 15,400 lbs. in 1893 and 9,100 lbs. in 1894. Réunion exported her first vanilla to Eu- rope in 1849. That shipment was only 7 lbs., but by 1870 the exports had grown to over 20,000 lbs. Since then the largest Réunion crops have been 190,000 Ibs. (1891), 207,000 Ibs. (1892), and 175,000 lbs. (1893); but last year there was a great decrease. The production of the Seychelles has been exceedingly erratic lately. These islands first sent their produce to Europe in 1885. In the succeeding years they quickly rose to an output of about 80,000 lbs., but equally quickly dropped off again to about 17,500 lbs. a year. According to the latest reports, however, the output next year is likely to show a great increase. The Seychelles and Mauritius vanilla is generally shorter, paler, and fainter in odour than that from Réunion, and realises lower prices. The vanilla crop which is now arriving in Europe is that which flowered in the autumn of last year, and was collected from May to July. The last great advances in the market prices of vanilla have been in the autumn of 1886, after which prices remained high until the large crop of 1887 broke the market, and in April 1889, when the re- ported destruction by rain of the Mexican crop caused an advance of $1 per lb. in New York in a single day. This movement also lasted several months.— Chemist & Druggist. 45 FERNS: SYNOPTICAL LIST—XXXIII. Synoptical List, with descriptions, of the Ferns and Fern-Allies of Ja- maica. ByG. S. Jenman, Superintendent Botanical Gardens, Demerara. 7. Nephrodium oligocarpum, Jenm.—Root-stock erect ; stipites tufted erect, slender, 4—6in. 1. light brown, puberulous, with a few pale scales at the base ; fronds bipinnatifid, lanceolate, reduced both ways, 14-2 ft. ]. 4-6 in. w., chartaceous, light green, surfaces more or less freely pubescent ; rachis slender, channelled, light coloured, pubescent ; pinnze spreading contiguous, numerous, sessile, 24-34 in. 1 4-4 in. w. taper- ing to a finely acuminate serrate-entire point, deeply pinnatifid, lower ones dwindling distinct small auricles; segments close, connected at the slightly dilated base, linear-ablong, blunt, 1-14 li. w. 24-4 li L, chartaceous; margins even or slightly crenulute and reflexed; veins simple, evident on the upper surface, 6-8 to a side; sori submarginal or nearer the margin than rib, involucre pubescent.—-Aspidium, Kth. Common both in forests and open places above 3,U00ft. altitude. Dominica, Guiana, (Adpun n. 1138) This has much the character of conterminum, but is not so lax in habit. It is best distinguished by its light green colour, pubescent surfaces and sori closer to the margin than midrib. The pubescence of the surface, and the texture, varies with the situation of growth. 8. NV. Kaulfussii, Hook.—Rootstock erect ; stipites caespitose, 4-8 in. ]. downy, slender ; fronds bipinnatifid, 1-14 ft. 1. 4-6 im. w. oblong- lanceolate, the acuminate apex pinnatifid, the lower 2-3 pairs of pinne reduced, the lowest conspicuously, firmly chartaceous, all parts grayish and more or less pubescent ; pinne 3-4 in. 1. 6-8 li. b. contigu us but apart, spreading, sessile, the tapering point serrate-entire, below this deeply pinnatifid; segments very close, round pointed, or subacute, 3-4 li. 1. from the sharp sinus, 14 li w.; margins even or crenulate ; veins simple; sori medial; involucres densely ciliate, fugacious or not.— Aspidium, Gr. Infrequent or rare above 2,000 or 3,000 ft. altitude. There are Jamaica specimens of this in the British Museum Herbarium but none from this source at Kew. Grisebach unites it with oligocarpum Kth., and ascribes it to St. Vincent also. ‘It has a grayish aspect something like jamaicense, but is less stiff and all the veins are quite free. 9. NV. conterminum, Desvy.—Rootstock erect ; stipites erect, dark with a few deciduous scales at the base, 2—3 in. J.; fronds bipinnatifid lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, 2-24 ft. 1. 6-9 in. w., reduced at the base to mere auricles; chartaceous or subcoriaceous, pellucid; naked, upper dark clear green, under paler; pinne in distant or subdistant widely spreading, opposite sessile pairs, which are broadest at the base and thence taper gradually to the attenuated long subentire finely acumi- nated point, central ones 3-5 in. 1. 4—? in. w. at the base, cut almost to the rachis into close, oblong, rounded or bluntish segments, the inner ones of which are 3-6 li. 1. 1-14 li. w,, the basal pair the largest and crenate or lobate; margins entire, reflexed; veins simple, 6-10 toa side; sori intramarginal and often partly covered by the reflexed mar- gin, involucres as large, pale, naked rachis channelled, stiff but rather 46 slender, bright glossy pale or chestnut brown.—Plum. Fil ¢. 47.—N. sitiorum, Jenm. Aas Frequent or infrequent on open banks skirting forests at 4,000 ft. altitude; gathered at Moody’s Gap, where it grows with NV. nimbatum. — It possesses the bright straw or semichestnut colouring of NV. Jenmani, but is a much smaller plant. Stipes and rachises are slender, pinnze in distant opposite narrow patent pairs, diminishing gradually in a direct line from the base outwards, the long acuminate and attenuated apices usually entire, the basal segments enlarged and imereasing in size as the pinne dwindle to very minute auricles on the short stipites, the upper and larger of the two from the obliquity of the base of the pinne, over- lapping the rachis, the sori intramarginal and the margins reflexed. There is a specimen from Wilson in Herb. Kew, assigned to concinnum, which species however has a wide-creeping rhizome. 10. NV. Sprengelii, Hook.—Rootstock erect, stoutish, often a span high ; stipites strong, cespitose, stiffy erect, 4-8 in. 1, channelled, scaly and dark-coloured at the base; fronds bipinnatifid, erect, 14-4 ft. 1. 6-12 in. w., chartaceous, naked or slightly glandulose, bright green; reduced gradually each way,—at the base to distant minute segments or mere glands, which reach nearly down the stipites ; pinnz contiguous above, subdistant or distant below, usually opposite, numerous, spreading, nearly horizontally, bearing a papillose gland at the base beneath, sessile, broadest at the base and tapering gradually outward to the finely acuminate serrate-entire point, 4-7 in. |. $ nearly 1 in. w.; cut almost to the cost im'o close spreading bluntish or acute subfalcate segments, which are 4-6 lil. and 1-14 lh. w. at the connected, but slightly dilated bases, the basal pair usually the largest the edges even and reflexed; rachis strong, subangular, stramineous, naked or with a few scattered fibrille toward the base; costz and ribs puberulous; veins simple, 12-15 to a side, close ; sori medial or nearer the margin; involucres pale, naked, fugacious. a. var. rivulorum. Fronds smaller; segments not reflexed at the edges.—Polypodium rivulorum Radd. Planl. Brasil, t. 35 Common on the open banks, by waysides, and in marshy places from the lowlands up to 4,000 or 5,000 ft. altitude. Probably spread from Florida right down through the West Indies, but the species has been much confounded. It has the upright habit, especially the large low- land state has, of resino-fetidum, but is less stiff and the margins are less decidedly reflexed over the sori. The sori are really mediai, but the folding back of the edges of the margins, makes them appear nearer thereto than to the midrib, except in a, the smaller mountain state.— Aspidium, Kf. 11. NV. limbatum, Desv.—Rootstock erect, scaly; stipites erect, 4-6 in. 1, dark, and deciduously scaly at the base; fronds bipinnatifid, 14-2} ft. 1, 6-8 or 10 in. w., chartaceous, naked or puberulous-glan- dulose, bright green above, paler beneath; reduced each way, gradually at the base to minute segments or mere glands; pinne numerous, spreading nearly horizontally, sessile, with a gland at the base beneath, where they are broadest, thence tapering to the acuminate serrate-entire point, 4-{ in. b., 3-5 in. L, pinnatifid nearly to the costa; segments close, linear-oblong, blunted or rounded, connected but not, or barely dilated at the bases, 14 li. b. 3-4 li. 1; margins crenate-entire, or the “er ea oe ee ee = — . » 47 basal pair, which are largest, serrate ; rachis stramineous, naked; veins simple, 8—-1V to a side; sori submarginal, exposed or half covered by the reflexed edge ; involucres pale.—Sl. t. 49. fig. 1.—Aspidium, Swartz. Amauropelta, Kze. Infrequent at 4,000—5,000 ft. altitude. Resembling somewhat some. of the forms of the preceding, but distinguished by the distinctly sub- marginal sori. Inmy specimen the pinne are alternate, and the rachis is rounded and muricate beneath. The segments are nearly an equal width from base to apex, and the margins are subcrenulate and reflexed on to the sori. 12. N. Sheringii, Jenm.—Rootstock stout, erect, often a span or more high, stipites many, czespitose, erect, 4-10 in. 1. strong, fibrillose, dark and paleaceous at the base; fronds erect, ample, bipinnatifid, 3-44 ft. 1. 1-1$ ft. w. reduced at the base to distant segments or mere glands ; pinnze very numerous, distant at the base, contiguous, above, spreading nearly horizontally, opposite, or contiguously ulternate, 6—10 in. l. 14-24 in. b., sessile, with a strong gland at the base beneath, pinnatifid, almost to the coste; segments linear, #-1} in. 1. 14 li. w. acute or blunted, crenate, serrate, lobed or even pinnatifid with a rounded sinus and their own width, more or less, between them, slightly dilated at the connected bases; rachis strong, sub-angular, channelled, glandulose puberulous, stramineous or brown ; above, cost stramineous, channelled, finely ciliate ; veins pellucid, simple, forked, or pinnate in the pinnatifid pinnulz, 16-20 (or 25) to a side; sori medial ; involucres pale, puberulous-glandulose, enclosing the sori at first.— Journ. Bot. vol. 8. p. 261. Common in open places among the Port Royal and Portland moun- tains at 2,000-4,000ft. alt.. This is probably a variety of Sprengelii, tending to a tripinnate state. The two plants are however suffici- ciently distinct. The pinne do not taper from the base outwards as in that species, but widen rather above the base. It rivals even Jenmani and resino-fetidum in size, and the plants form large masses, several growing together, standing 4-5 ft. high. The segments are generally of irregular length and the space between them varies.— Endemic. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT. LIBRARY. Bulletin Royal Gardens, Kew. No, 107. Nov., 1895. App. I. 1896. [Kew.] Catalogue of Seeds and Plants on sale at the Horti. Gardens, Nagpure. [Kew.] Bulletin New York Agri. Exp. Station. No. 94. Oct. 1895. [Director.] Bulletin Torrey Bot. Club. No. 12. Dec., 1895. [Editor.] Bulletin de L’ Herbier Boissier. No.12. Dec., 1895. [Conservateur. ] Agri. Ledger Series. Nos. 5 and 12 of 1894. 7, 10,12, 13, 16,17 of 1895. [Supt of Govt. Printing, India. ] Agri. Journal, Cape Colony. Nos. 23-4. Nov. [Dept. of Agri.] Revue Agricole. No.11. Nov., 1895. [E£ditor. | Hawaiian Planters’ Monthly. No.12. Dec., 1895. [Editor.] American Journal of Pharmacy. No.1. Janry., 1896. [Editor. ] Sugar Journal, Queensland. No. 10. Nov,1895. [Editor.] Sugar-Cane. No. 318. Jany., 1896. [Editor.] Produce World. No. 10-12. Dec., 1895. [Editor.] Chemist & Druggist. Nos. 816-9. Dec., 1895. [Editor.] Times of Ceylon. Nos. 47-50. Novr., Dec., 1895. [Editor.] 48 Report on Bot. Gardens at Oodeypure. North American Fauna. No. 10. Minnesota Bot. Studies. Prac. Agri. Horti. Socy. of Madras. W.I. Home Builder. Dec., 1895. SEEDS. 1894 & 1895. [U. S. Dept. of Agri. ] No. 9. Nov., 1895. July—Sept., 1895. [ Editor. | [Supt. ] [State Botanist. | [Secy. | From Royal Gardens, Kew. Bentinckia nicobarica Protea longiflora Cyrtostachys Renda var. Singaporiana Fuchsia Kirkii, From P. L. Vendryes, Esq. Begonia (two packets). From W. Jekyll, Esq. Orange. CASTLETON GARDENS. Visitors to the Gardens may expect to see the following plants in flower or fruit during the month of March :— In FLOWER. Acacia cyanophylla, Lindl. Archontophcenix Cunninghamii, H. Wendl. & Drude Artocarpus Lakoocha, Roxb. Aspasia variegata, Lindl. Bignonia magnifica, Bull Brownea Rosa-de-monte, Berg. Cananga odorata, Hook. f. & Thoms. Carludovica gracilis, Lieb:n. Cinnamomum Camphora, T. Nees & Eberm. Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Nees Cocos australis, Mart Coffea liberica, Hiern Dictyosperma album, H. Wendl. & Drude Diospyros discolor, Willd. Dypsis madagascariensis, Hort. Elettaria Cardamomum, Maton Erythrina umbrosa, H. B. & K. Erythroxylun Coca, Lam. Faradaya splendida, F. Muell. Garcinia indica, Choisy Hevea brasiliensis, Muell. Arg. Hibiscus elatus, Sw. Jacaranda filicitolia, D. Don Landolphia florida, Benth. Mesua ferrea, Linn. Michelia Champaca, Linn, Mimusops Elengi, Linn. Musa textilis, Née Napoleona imperialis, Beauv. Pachira aquatica, Aubl. | Pachira Barrigon, Seem. Pithecolobium dulce, Benth. P terospermum acerifolium, Willd. Quassia amara, Linn. Stifftia chrysantha, Mikan / Strychnos Nux-vomica, Linn. | eee a ee ee In Faoutit. Araucaria Bidwillii, Hook. Areca Catechu, Linn. Archontopheenix Cunninghamii, H. Wendl. & Drude Barringtonia Butonica, Forst. Bignonia magnifica, Bull Cananga odorata, Hook. f. & Thoms, Caryota urens, Linn. Cocos flexuosa, Mart. Coffea liberica, Hiern Colvillea racemosa, Boj. Diospyros discolor. Willd. Dictyosperma album, H. Wendl. & Drude Dillenia indica, Linn. Diplothemium caudescens, Mar. Dypsis madagascariensis, Hort. Elettaria Cardamomum, Maton Entada scandens, Benth. EKrythrina umbrosa, H. B. & K. Hibiscus elatus, Sw. Livistona australis, Mart. Livistona chinensis, R. Br. Manihot Glaziovii, Muell. Arg. Mimusops Elengi, Linn, Musa textilis, Née UOreodoxa regia, H. B. & K. Pachira aquatica, Aubl. Pachyrhizus tuberosus, Spreng. Pandanus utilis, Bory Pterospermum acerifolium, Willd. Sapindus Saponaria, Linn. Semecarpus Anacardium, Linn. Strychnos Nux-vomica, Linn. Terminalia Arjuna, Wight & Arn. : ew Series. | MARCH, 1896. Vol. III. "Part 3. BULLETIN OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, JAMAICA, EDITED BY WILLIAM FAWCETT, B.Sc., F.LS. Director of Public Gardens and Plantations. CONTENTS: Agricultural Chemistry of the Sugar Cane Ee 49 Cultivation of Tomatoes = 61 Notes on Oranges and Lemons = 62 Distribution of Seeds and Plants Ss 63 Pasteurisation of Milk a 63 Orchids at Hope Gardens : 65 Ferns : Synoptical List—_XXXI 66 Contributions to the Department a 69 Castleton Gardens & P RIC E-—Threepence. Copy will be supplied free to any Resident in Jamaica, who will send Name and Address to the Director of Public Gardens and Plantations, Gordon Town P.O. KINGSTON, JAMAICA: - GOVERNMENT Printine Orrice, 79 DuKE STREET. 1896. 4. ea i Papeete « oa. ees ee. | ae Z ‘; ies i ; \ JAMAIOA. BULLETIN OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT. Vol. IIT. New Series. | MARCH 1896. Part 3 OBSERVATIONS OF THE AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY OF THE SUGAR-CANE. By T. L. Parrson, Px. D., F.C, 8S. * is About the year I a remarkable man, named Columella, left his native town of Gades, now called Cadiz, and travelled through Spain, Gaul, Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, in order to collect facts for a great treatise on Agriculture. He even extended his journeys to the coast of Africa, and finally settled at Rome, where he produced his work, “De re rustica,” in twelve books and a preface. The latter, I must confess, is that portion of the work which has interested me more than the rest; for after an interval of nearly 2,000 years, I find his words as full of truth and wisdom as they were at that distant period above-mentioned. Whilst deploring the degraded state of Agriculture in his time, he exclaims: “I see around me schools for preachers, dancers, musicians, and tumblers; cooks and barbers are also in vogue ; houses of ill-fame and gambling establishments everywhere attract the imprudent youth ; but, as to the Art which teaches how to fertilise the earth, it has neither professors, pupils, justice, nor protection. * * * And if I complain of this neglect I am told that the soil has become barren * * * !? It is hard to think that little progress has been made in Agriculture since the year I; but we must concede that whatever has been done since that remote epoch has been achieved almost entirely within the last fifty years. We have now several schools of Agriculture properly so-called, but we find the professors devoting much of their time to commercial analyses, instead of employing their precious moments to unveil the hidden secrets of the earth. It seems to be of greater im~ portance to them to determine whether a sample of artificial manure is adulterated or not by the maker, than to discover why a field of canes is productive in one case and unproductive in another. * This article appeared first as a pamphlet in 1873. As it is a valuable essay from which much can be learnt, even by those who cultivate other products be- sides sugar, and as it cannot now be obtained, it has been thought well to reprint it here. 50 To the sugar-planter the question of soils and manures is doubtless: becoming more important every day, and any practical observations upon a subject which affects to so great an extent the future prosperity of our West Indian Colonies cannot fail, I believe, to have a certain de- gree of interest at the present time. if It is not very long ago since the great chemist, Justus von Liebig, showed that by burning a plant and analysing the ash we not only learnt what that plant derived from the soil, but the food necessary to render it luxuriant in a given soil. However, when Liebig asserted that the mineral ingredients found in plants were its only true and natural food, Professor Boussingault, who, with Dr. Mulder and Sir H. Davy, must be looked upon as one of the fathers of Agricultural Chemistry, simply refuted the theory by applying the ashes of farm- yard manure and an equivalent of farmyard manure itself, side by side, upon the land. The latter gave luxuriant crop; the former produced nothing. In fact, I haveconvinced myself that the burning of a vegetable to procure the ash renders the mineral food tt naturally contains almost useless as manure. More recently the laborious experiments of Lawes and Gilbert have weakened the faith of agriculturists in mineral manures, though Lawes himself has long been a manufacturer of them, and at the outset of his agricultural researches took out a patent for mak- ing superphosphate. The results obtained by these gentlemen have not overthrown the fact originally proclaimed by Liebig, that the mineral substances found in the soil and in the crops are of the greatest im- portance to the agriculturist ; they have merely shown once more that nitrogen is likewise necessary, and after some twenty years of experi- ments have arrived at the conclusion that the largest crops were obtained when the mineral and nitrogenous manures were employed together. This applies more particularly to the wheat plant, which belongs, however, to the same family as the sugar-cane. JBoth are plants of the grass tribe ; but the one is cultivated for the seed, and the other for its saccharine juice. Turnips, on the other hand, are grown principally for the roots, and it has been found by direct experiments that on most soils acid superphosphate is a very advantageous manure for this crop. But should we send out turnip manure for the sugar-cane? I think not. Direct experiments, extending over a long series of years, have shown that on the average soils superphosphate alone does little or no good to wheat; how can we expect that it will affect the sugar cane P Tt contains a large amount of free acid, which the cane cannot touch until it is neutralised by the lime or potash of the soil; and long-worked cane soils are for the most part already much too acid. Sulphate of ammonia, largely employed in Demerara and elsewhere, acts as a powerful stimulant upon all graminaceous plants growing on average qualities of soil. With regard to the sugarcane, its immediate effect is the rapid rise of the green cane, and often the production of a watery juice, poor in sugar. It is moreover a highly exhaustive manure, causing the plant to take up lime, potash, and phosphoric acid from soils well-nigh worked out, and giving, for the time, the appearance of extraordinary fertility. 51 We know also that cane trash is burnt and the ash restored carefully to the soil in almost all the West India Islands and Demerara. Unfortunately for the cause of the sugar-planter, this cane trash is used there as fuel, and we cannot expect to get work twice out of the same material. If it were fermented in a moist heap like stable manure, it would yield its fertilising elements to the soil and the plant; but when burnt its nitrogen is gone, its silica and lime have become almost completely insoluble and unavailable, and it can only supply directly a certain moderate amount of potash. But cane soils lose their lime long before their potash is all gone. Add to the substances already named Peruvian guano—not only a very costly manure, but one which, injudiciously applied, is very apt to endanger a crop of sugar—and we have nearly all the auxiliaries to labour which, until recently, the sugar-grower has had at his disposal, and has employed in many cases without sufficient knowledge of the require- ments either of the cane or the soils in which it is planted. ELE. Let us now proceed to glance at the requirements of the sugar-cane, and those of the long-cultivated soils of our Colonies; the differences presented by the soils of new and old plantations; the manures best suited to restore the soil of partially-exhausted estates, and to ensure the largest yield of sugar in the stiff clays of Demerara, Barbadoes, Jamaica, &e. The composition of the fully-developed sugar-cane may be very fairly represented by the following good average analysis :— SuGar CANE. Water esa i 71.04 Sugar ae sits 18.02 Cellulose } ie 9.56 Albumine ae 0.55 Fatty and colouring matters 0.35 Salts soluble in water 0.12 “insoluble “ 0.16 Silica 0.20 100.00 So that a thousand tons’ weight of cane takes up from the soil a little more than four tons of mineral ingredients, and if the soil cannot supply these four tons in the proper form—j. ¢., capable of being assimilated—no crop of sugar can be raised. About one ton of nitrogen is reqnired to form the albuminous matter of one thousand tons of cane. The next question that presents itself is, What are the nature and relative proportions of these mineral ingredients derived from the soil ? This is obtained by careful analysis of the ash of the full-grown cane and its leaves. There exists great discrepancy in the various analyses of cane ash that have hitherto been made, the cause of which I shall 52 allude to immediately; so that for the present I can only give the following rough average of a certain number of analysis of the ash of the ripe cane with its leaves. It will serve us to form at least a very approximate notion of the relative proportions of each substance taken from the soil during the life of the cane :— - ASH OF FULL-GROWN CANE AND LEAVES, Silica was Pi 43.0 Phosphoric acid __.... a 6.0 Sulphuric acid i - 8.0 Chlorine a ee 4.5 Lime ee er 10.0 Magnesia one eae 6 5 Potash ase zi 18.0 Soda os UF 2.0 Oxide of iron, manganese, and loss in analysis 2.0 100.0 The largest figures are those of silica, potash, lime, and phosphoric acid ; but sulphuric acid and magnesia appear to have their importance also, whilst chlorine and soda, though represented by comparatively small figures, are usually present as chloride of potassium and chloride of sodium to the extent of 4 or 5 per cent. The principal substances re- quired in an available state in a cane soil are, therefore, nitrogen, potash, silica, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, lime, and magnesia. We may state at once that oxide of iron and oxide of manganese are, perhaps, also essential, for in a long series of interesting experiments made in 1849 by the Duke of Salem-Horstmar, a chemist of much ex- perience, the conclusion was drawn that a graminaceous plant (the oat) absolutely required for its complete development a// the mineral ~ substances we have just mentioned. As to the relative importance of each substance in particular, it is a difficult problem to solve. We know by experience that the composi- tion of the ash of any plant varies very considerably with the period of the year at which the plant is cut, and the parts of the plant that are burnt for analysis; so that it is by no means an easy task to state with scientific accuracy what substances any plant takes in largest quantities from the soil. It is, however, a fact of the greatest interest that for a given plant the mineral ingredients derived from the soil are constantly found in the same relative proportions, and the same law holds good for the various portions of a plant, provided that we consider them in a state of maturtty—t. e., when each portion has done all the work that is allotted to it by Nature. I was requested some time ago to draw up a report upon a number of analyses of sugar-cane executed by chemists whose results could be thoroughly relied upon, and to explain, if possible, why they differed so widely with regard to the relative amounts of potash, phosphoric acid, silica, &c., found by each of them, and occasionally by the same chemist. After submitting the matter to a careful investigation it was found, not 53 without some difficulty and a voluminous correspondence, that the only conclusion possible was that the canes had been submitted to analysis at various periods of their growth, consequently the results could not be ex- pected to coincide. More recently I undertook an extensive series of analyses of the coffee-plant and the soils on which it grew. This furnished me with the counterpart of the above proposition. I was requested to make these analyses in order to ascertain what materials the coffee-tree took from the soils, what the soils supplied in largest quantities, what they were deficient in, and what kind of manure would be requisite to in- crease the crops of berries without impoverishing the soil of the estates. I sought in vain through the works and journals which I possess, or have acccss to, for some analysis of the kind. It was only when the work was finished and my results obtained that a friend found for me an old analysis of coffee-berries, made by an eminent chemist about thirty years ago, and the figures coincided in a most remarkable manner with those I had just obtained. Now these coffee-berries had been grown in the West Indies some thirty years before, and mine came from Ceylon! It then struck me for the first time that the analyses of the mineral ingredients of plants burnt after they have arrived at maturity must generally coincide, and can alone teach us accurately what any plant takes from the soil. The reason that the analyses of these eoffee- berries gave results so precisely similar was that the berry in both instances was ripe. Again, I was exceedingly interested to find that the analysis of the ash of some Virginian tobacco grown in the Royal Botanical Society’s Gardens in London, and kindly forwarded to me by Colonel Platt, presented precisely the same composition as that grown in America; so that neither change of soil nor of climate had influenced the relative proportion of mineral matter and organic matter, nor that of the principal ingredients. The plant had taken from the soil of London the same materials, and in the same relative proportions that it is found to take them from the soil of Virginia. i 4's In order to appreciate the actual state of the cane soils in our West Indian Colonies we cannot do better than consider, in the first instance, the composition of two soils (chosen with care from a considerable number that have been analysed by me within the last few years), re- presenting a new soil and an old soil, The first, A, is from an estate in Jamaica now under canes for the first time; the other, B, is froma plantation in Demerara which has been worked more than fifteen years consecutively. It is not difficult to see how valuable a lesson is to be learnt from these two analyses alone, but some others are given further on. Let me simply add that to the eye of the most experienced planter or chemist there was scarcely any appreciable difference in the aspect of these two soils; the sample A was merely a clay of rather darker colour than B, but nothing in their external appearance could have indicated the widely-different composition which they gave on being carefully analysed :— . 54 TypxEs oF CANE SOILs. Moisture _ zie bas 12.25 18.72 Organic matter and combined water 15.36 6.03 Silica and insoluble sillicates vy 48 45 68 .89 Alumina one ae. 13.80 2.50 Oxide of iron ode fas 6.72 2.60 Lime A var 0.99 0.08 Magnesia 0.29 0.25 Potash _ aie 0.11 0.10 Soda ee aS 0.70 0.09 Phosphoric acid . 0.10 0.03 Sulphuric acid 0 30 0.03 Chlorine* bd ave 0 dl trace Oxide of manganese, carbonic acid, and loss in analysis ae see 0.42 0.68 a ee ee eee 100.00 100.00 Nitrogen (in organic matter) - 0.31 0.05 To persons accustomed to discuss analyses of soils nothing can be easier than to see that in A we have everything thatis requisite to grow canes for a considerable numbers of years, whilst B is a soil fast approaching to exhaustion. I will merely call attention here to the greater amount of organic matter (humus), nitrogen, lime and phosphoric acid in A, and to the important fact that in B the quantity of lime, 0.08, is far below that of the magnesia, 0.25. This I have ascertained to he a very bad sign in cane soils, and it will probably be found to be so in soils devoted to the cultivation of almost any other plant. It appears, indeed, from the results of a numerous series of analyses carried on in my laboratory for some years past, that the degree of ex- haustion which a cane soil has undergone can to a great extent be ascertained by comparing the relative amounts of Jime and magnesia yielded to analysis. Here are four examples from the same estate in British Guiana, from various portions of which the samples were taken :— CULTIVATED. < eee os 10 to 15 years. Upwards of 60 years. Lime (per cent.) ... 0.44 0 64 0 1h 0.40 Magnesia a 0.32 0.50 0.36 0.51 I might, perhaps, have found still more striking examples, but these will suffice to show how the /ime has disappeared (from the same soi/) by prolonged cultivation of the cane, whilst the magnesia has remained pretty much as it was. In coffee soils from Ceylon I have found that the same thing occurs also, but that the magnesia ismore taken than with the cane. This is natu- ral enough, since it forms an important ingredient among the mineral matters of the seed of the coffee-plant, which seed it carried away from the soil after each crop. However, even in colfee soils the magnesia diminishes less rapidly by cultivation than the lime. It is quite pos- sible in some cases to judge very approximately of the number of years * The quantity of chlorine is unusually high, which is accounted for by the proximity of asaltspring. Such springs are by no means uncommon in the island. 55 a soil has been in canes by the inspection of a careful analysis of this soil, more especially when the analysis ean be compared with one made of the same soil from some uncultivated spot on the borders of the plantation. When the quantity of lime has diminished so much by prolonged cul- ture as to be present tothe extent of only 0.1 percent., and then only one-third that of the magnesia present (knowing that in the origin the hime was not only equal to, but higher than, the magnesia), we may rest assured that the crops of cane on this soil will fall off year by year, and that the most careful system of manuring will be necessary to place it again in its former lucrative condition. I am sorry to say that sucha state of things actually exists over a very considerable portion of British Guiana and Barbadoes ; and though Jamaica and the other islands appear somewhat more fortunate in this respect yet we have here and there examples of long-wrought soils which are in quite as bad a condition as the most exhausted plantations in Demerara. It is both difficult and laborious to choose from a very considerable number of analyses of cane soils those which may be considered to re- present the actual state of things in the West Indies. I have nevyer- theless given, on the adjoining page, a few which represent some very extensive plantations, the owners of which have kindly permitted me to publish them. These, with the few remarks appended to them, will enable me to pass on to another important portion of our subject. ANALYSES OF CANE SOILS, QUEERS- DEMERARA. BARBADOES. LAND, coo — — eee es OOS A B Cc F G H I J K Moisture .-.| 26.00] 23.00] 26.70 13.88} 22.64) 16.00, 19.00) 18.00) 23.10 ‘Organic matter and combined water ia 0.90) 5,30) 9.30 8.86} 32.39) 7.06) 7,88! 9.11) 10.50) 12.56 Silicate of alu- mina and si- lica --.| 61.68] 64.44) 58.02 Lime ves, 0.64). O11 0.47 Magnesia ...| 0.50} 0.36) 0.50 Sulphuric acid | 0.01] trace} 90.01 Phosphoric acid} 0.08} 0.05} 0.19 Potash andsoda| 0.11} 0.10} 0.12 Chlorine ...| trace}! 0.02} 0-ol Oxide of iron, al- umina, man- ganese, &c, ...| 5.08! 6.62] 5.68) 10.32} 7.61) 6.08] 0.83 46.50) 68.00 0.48} 0.45 0.30} 0.31} 0.30 0.04; 0.20) 0.12) O. 0.03} 0.16) 0.10) 0.07) 0.06 0.24; 0.30) 0.10) 0.10) 0.16 0.06] 0.05) trace! trace! trace 68.22) 65.00) 60.00) 41.42 0:30 0.25) 0.30) 0.56 7.06} 6.14) 15.48) 21.78 100.00)100.00/100.00)100.00/100.00/100.00 100.00,100.00 100.00 100.00/100.00 Observations.—A, B, and C are soils in adjacent plantations of the same estate. A has been in canes about five years ; C for a somewhat longer period—10 to 15 years; and B for about 60 years. D and E are from adjacent estates, far distant from the former; they have been in canes 20 to 25 years. F is a new soil, now growing ferns only, It is about to be planted with canes as an experiment. This soil, when it has been dried, burns like peat. G and H are from plantations only separated 100 feet from each other ‘by acanal. Gisa new soil; H has beenin canes about 15 years. IandJ are good average specimens of Barbadoes soils, and K isa sample of red clay soil from Queens- land, Australia. It is commonly held that soils in hot countries, especially in tropical climates, contain more organic matter than those of our latitudes : but it is evident from the above analyses that such is not the case for cane soils. The figure which includes organic matter and combined water owes a great deal to the latter, which is driven off by heat with the organic matter. In fact, putting aside soils of a peaty nature, it is- rare that we meet with cane soils yielding more than from 2 to 4 per cent. of humus or “vegetable mould;” and the loss of this organic matter has been proved asource of sterility in Java by causing a want of porosity, of nitrogen, and of carbonicacid. Hence the danger of ap-- plying lime to these soils, much as most of them require it, since it tends to destroy the humus in a very short space of time. In our own climates lime is always “backed up,” if I may use the expression, by a liberal supply of organic manure; and this is even more essential in- Demerara than with us. The Java and Demerara clays when properly drained and worked will, from the moment they are put under cultivation, yield good crops- of canes without manure for at least ten or twelve years. In Jamaica the same kind of clay will yield well for about fifteen years, and the red porous clay of South Australia for fifteen or twenty years. After this period the yield will become less and less each season; and for some years past it has been customary to dose the soils with sulphate of ammonia or Peruvian guano, which will usually raise the produce for the next two or three seasons; but after this their stimulating effect will cease almost completely, and the soil will be then in a worse con- dition than before. It is preferable in most cases to endeavour by a ‘rational system of culture to restore these partially exhausted soils before they have gone too far, rather than to take in new land farther” and farther from the boiling-houses. When a soil has got into this partially exhausted state, no manure hitherto known, with the exception of good stable manure, well- fermented farmyard dung, or the urban manure made from excreta, can restore the equilibrium in favour of the planter. The reason of this. appears to reside in the fact that these manures are natural products, and not only contain al/ that the plant requires, as is shown by analysis, but in the proper state for assimilation. Anyone who will take the trouble of perusing the accounts of the old experiments made by Giobert, Lampadius, and others, will soon be con- vinced that very little practical knowledge has been added to what was perfectly well-known prior to the year 1820 regarding the effects of manures upon the soil.. Giobert mixed together silica, alumina, magnesia, and lime, in the proper proportions, as he thought, to con-- stitute a fertile soil: he planted vegetables therein, and watered them, but none of them grew until he moistened his artificial soil with water from a dunghill. Lampadius varied the experiment by forming several compartments, which he filled each with a different substance. The plants which he caused to grow in these extraordinary soils “did so because he watered with the liquor which exuded from a dunghill.” These are some of the oldest experiments on manures, and were made, as we see, with the most perfect manure yet known—stable manure. Centuries before this the natives of Peru used guano, and the manner 57 in which night-soil came to be known as a most active fertilizer is so lost in the mist of bygone ages, that we can only conjecture with Lou- don, that man found it necessary to bury it in the earth in order to avoid its disagreeable odour, and immediately observed its effects on vegetation. The idea of rendering phosphoric acid more available to plants by partially dissolving various kinds of phosphate of lime in sulphuric acid does not appear to be based upon very sound philosophy. At any rate the manure thus procured has, according to Professor John’s researches, little or no beneficial action upon graminaceous plants, though it acted well on turnips.* Moreover, this process of making artificial manure (superphosphate) implies some ignorance of the methods by which the roots of plants absorbs the mineral portion of their nourishment. It appears tolerably well proved that this is effected by the secretion of some vegetable acid, and was well shown by plates of marble exhibited in the Austrian department of the last French Exhibition, where the rootlets of wheat, maize, &c., had left their traces eaten into the marble, Again, M. Cloez, in his recent experiments, caused grains to germinate on blue litmus paper, the course of the rootlets being well marked by pemanent red streaks, which did not disappear on drying, and were therefore not caused by carbolic acid. Moreover, I have observed that all cane soils are naturally more or less acid, and appear to become more so as they approach a state of complete exhaustion. Lastly, it is shown by Professor Déherain ( ‘‘ Annuaire Scientifique,” 1868) that the most insoluble of mineral phosphates, reduced to powder and strewn upon soils deficient in phosphates, increase the yield of the fields at once ; whilst if applied upon soils which contain a due proportion of phosphates, no increase of the crops occurs. The latter fact points very clearly to the importance of knowing something about the natural resources of a soil from which the crops of every kind are regularly raised. ag In laying down rules to ensure the highest degree of fertility in our cane soils, we must remember that we are dealing with the /ife of the plant, and that the phenomena of life are mysteries that no one can solve completely. Hence the danger of adhering too firmly to a favourite theory; hence, also, the philosophy of following the indications of Nature as closely as possible. In other terms, we must allow ourselves to be guided by direct experiments independently of any theory. Such, for instance, are those remarkeble trials made by Professor Polstorff, in which he found that of all manures known, that derived from the excreta of animals gave by far the highest results.; All who have devoted their time to this subject are of opinion that rich, well prepared farmyard manure is the most perfect fertiliser known. ‘‘ We must never forget,” says Dr. William Gregory, ‘‘ that the best and most economical of all manures is farmyard manure or, what is the same thing, the night-soil and urine of inhabited places.” + The reason of this. * John, “Journ. fiir Prak. Chemie,” vol. 50, p. 57 (1843 to 1845) ; see also Lawes and Gilbert’s “ Exp. on Growth of Wheat,’ 1864. ¢ Polstorff, “ Annalen der Chemie,” Ixii., p. 180 (1847). } Gregory, ‘“‘ Handbook of Organic Chemistry,” 3rd edit., p. 479. 58 is because it contains all the ingredients that a plant can require, because its action is certain, because it gives up these ingredients in a proper state, in a readily assimilable form ; and the more closely any artificial product approaches it, the more valuable is the action of such @ manure upon the land. But farmyard manure has one great drawback: it contains an enormous amount of water—60 to 80 per cent. of its weight ; hence it can only be used on the spot where it is produced; carriage to any distance is out of the question. Within the last few years, however, a product has been obtained from night-soil, and urine, at Bloxwith, in Staffordshire, which may be well compared by its composition and emi- nent fertilising qualities to concentrated farmyard manure. It is got by evaporating the excreta of large towns as nearly as possible to the dry state, and forms, I believe, the most perfect manure actually known —that, indeed, which Nature evidently intended for our use. Instead of containing 60 to 80 per cent. of water, it contains only 12 to 16 per cent.; therefore its transportation to considerable distances can be effected as with guano. Upon analysis it is shown to contain all the in- gredients of rich farmyard manure in a concentrated state, and in the same assimilable form. Various kinds of costly apparatus have been erected at Bloxwitch and Churchbridge by the Urban Manure Company in order to get this valuable product, and specimens of it have been submitted to the Royal Horticultural Society in London—the superintendents of whose gar- dens experimented with it as early as 1868 or 1869—and to myself. The former have drawn up an official report, sanctioned by the Council of the Society, upon its effects. This report coincides completely with the results of my own experience on a smaller scale, and both confirm once more the older experiments of Professor Polstorff, made in 1847, alluded to above. Since then. being anxious to learn the effects of this new product upon the cane soils of our West Indian Colonies, with whose composi- tion I was acquainted, I applied to my talented friend, Mr. W. Bancroft Espeut (who informed me that he had used it in Jamaica), and he replied that he had obtained most excellent results. The able manager of the works above mentioned, Captain Hall, to whose skill and perseverance agriculture is mainly indebted for the possibility of obtaining so valuable a product, has also forwarded to me several letters from the cane-growers of Barbadoes, Demerara, and Mauritius, showing clearly that the urban manure is giving ample satisfaction, and is now very largely used. But for some time previously I had never hesitated to recommend it as the best manure for the long- worked Demerara soils. In 1871 some hundreds of tons were experimentally mixed with bone meal and precipitated phosphate for the soils in British Guiana, which had been found wanting in lime and somewhat deficient in phosphoric acid, and have produced the most satisfactory results. I will give here three analyses of some large bulks of this kind that have been shipped, 1 to Demerara, 2 and 3 to different estates in the islands, and by the 59 . side of these I place an average analysis of good farmyard manure for comparison :— - Urpan Cane Manurs. Farmyarp MANURE’ No.1. No.2. No.3. No. 4. Water oes Be 10.50 12.14 12.00 66.17 Organic matter, &e. = « 31.10 40.00 26.60 28.24 Phosphoric acid sea 8.70 10.41 11.61 0.27 Sulphuric acid ee Live ; $89 9.80 0.11 Chlorine as fn 1.50 1.20 2.40 trace Lime asd we 18.06 14.21 17.59 2.18 Magnesia vee Soe 0.80 1.14 2.50 0.10 Potash i 5.64 { 2.21 2.00 0.60 Soda E26.,-,1.70 0.07 Oxide of manganese... 0.75 — 0.30 _ Oxide of Iron and alumina 2.19 2.25 4.00 0.20 Soluble silica ... ae 1.00 0.45 0.44 0.94 Sand, &e, avi oie 8,00, 6.00. 9.06 1.12 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 Nitrogen, equal to ammonia 2.85 3.28 2.40 0 87 ‘There is a test by which the urban manure can be distinguished from any other (except farmyard manure), namely, its property of yielding a certain amount of its organic substance to strong alcohol (rectified spirits of wine), and forming therewith a dark-coloured solution. The above is an ultimate analysis of three cargoes of this urban cane munure prepared especially for certain estates, the soils of which had been previously submitted to me for analysis. The immediate analysis of this product shows that it contains all the ingredients, or compounds, found in well-made farmyard manure; and if we suppose the latter deprived of its abundant moisture, the composition of the two would present a great similarity. Such, then, is the fertiliser which I more particularly recommend fo the long-worked cane soils of our colonies, the action of which, with * proper amount of tillage, will, in the course of three or four seasons: prove of the greatest advantage to the planter. VIl. The refuse of distilleries, and all other refuse collected during the concentration and clarifying of the juice, should be put together into a large compost heap, where these materials should be mixed with megass ash, leaves, straw, pen manure, stable manure, &c.; and a heap of this kind should be attached to every plantation. It should be piled high, so that its ingredients may be well pressed together; it should be pro- tected from the rain, and any liquid that drains from it should not be wasted, but carried on to the ground with the manure itself, or soaked up by dry leaves or cane ash. The best method of using the acid superphosphate manures would be to mix them intimately with one-quarter their weight of good Peruvian guano and one-quarter their weight of cane ash, and apply the mixture 60 at the rate of 5 to 8 ewt. per acre, according to the mechanical condi- tion of the soil and its more or less effective drainage. The mixture of sulphate of ammonia, chloride of potassium, and superphosphate, recommended formerly by my learned friend Dr. Anderson, of Glasgow University, to whom Scotch agriculture and chemical science generally owe so much, besides being very expensive, is too soluble and too acid for the Demerara clays; neither does it sup- ply any Awmus or organic matter, in which so many of these soils are very deficient. Nevertheless it is quite equal to the very expensive chemical manure of Professor Ville, which is merely a similar mixture of mineral salts, and certainly not calculated to have much effeet on sugar-cane crops, whatever results it may be said to have upon the highly-cultivated beet-root soils in Europe. In British Guiana such mixtures of nitrates, sulphates, and chlorides are washed out of reach of the cane roots by a single tropical shower, and in dry weather it is not certain that they would be absorbed. A better mixture would consist of Peruvian guano, cane ash (or burnt trash), and stable manure or compost heap, to which mixture one quar- ter its weight of gypsum might be added for most Demerara soils. Sulphate of ammonia, applied by itself in large quantities, acts as a poison to plants; in smaller doses its action is that of a powerful stimu- lant, somewhat as sulphate of quinine acts upon a delicate child. IL have stated above that its use is to be avoided except in conjunction with relatively large quantities of other manures, or, better, as a power- ful auxiliary to the compost heap.......... Hitherto manufactured manures, as is well known, have not been intended as perfect restoratives, and land treated with them alone generally fails in a few years to yield a heavy crop. They are rightly looked upon as auxiliaries in a system of farming—as a kind of supple- ment to a limited supply of farmyard dung. But in the urban cane manure above described we have a perfect restorative—the first of its kind—a manure that will not only cause the soil to yield its utmost when worked with proper care, but will also prevent its ultimate exhaustion. Another auxiliary of some importance to the West Indian sugar- grower is lime. Even some of the newer soils would benefit by occasional dressings of lime in the shape of mar or carbonate of lime (not in the burnt or caustic state) ; and this should be followed at an interval of about two months by a liberal supply of manure. There are, indeed, three special agricultural difficulties in the direct path of the cane-grower in the West Indies. The first is that he is dealing almost everywhere with a stiff clay soil, difficult to work even were labour more plentiful than it is; the second is a remarkable deficiency of lime in many districts; and the third is the very imper- fect nature of the manures hitherto imported, and the implicit faith placed in the restoration of the megass ashes. A certain amount of tillage is of course necessary, however perfect the manure applied. Perhaps we shall never possess a manure that will enable us to dispense with labour altogether; for putting aside the question of weeding, air is one of the most necessary ingredients in the soil, and the more air can be enclosed the quicker the manure will disappear, and the more efficacious will be its action in a given time. I have insisted upon this point and several others in many of my papers contributed to ‘ The Sugar Cane” magazine. Marl or sandy limestone spread over these stiff clays at various inter- vals, as in the process which we call in England “ top-dressing” will be carried down into the soil during the rainy season, and greatly improve its quality. Each application might be most advantageously alternated by a similar application of urban cane manure; for as the roots of the cane rarely extend to more than a foot in depth, we may, in many cases, trust to the rain to carry the fertilising ingredients within their reach. It is evident that to grow the largest amount of sugar is the essential part of our problem. For this we do not require stimulants and in- complete manures, which will produce only a temporary gain of short duration and leave the land in a worse condition than before, but a careful application of those scientific principles which have been deduced from direct experiment and observation. ‘This alone can claim to rank as true philosophy, aud must serve as our guide in practice. In giving professional advice upon these subjects I have never failed to bear this in view. Moreover, I have been anxious to prove an asser- tion published many years ago, to the effect that Agricultural Chemistry, in spite of the dogmatic and conflicting statements of some of its more enthusiastic cultivators, is quite capable, when conscientiously applied to any cultivated plant, of increasing toa very great extent the yield of that plant upon soils which have suffered from long cultivation. This is equally true whether the plant be cultivated for its saccharine juice, its seed, its bark, its leaf, or its fibre ; and as a soil, however rich, must sooner or later lose its fertility by constant work, the most essen- tial element in the problem is the discovery of the proper kind of manure for the plant in question. If my efforts should hereafter be found to have realised this point for the sugar-cane, I shall be amply repaid for the time I have devoted to its study. CULTIVATION OF TOMATOES. By W. Crapwick, Superintendent of Hope Gardens, Sow in a well prepared bed, or ina box not less than four inches deep. First dip the seeds in Kerosine to prevent ants carrying them away ; do this without letting them soak in the Kerosine. Be careful when sowing to put the seeds about half an inch apart; and do not put them more than about an eight of an inch below the surface of the soil, if sown too deep they will not germinate. Put them in a cool place, but not under shade, and water lightly every day. When they are an inch and a half high, transplant to another bed or box, or better still into five-inch clay pots, each plant in a separate pot. Keep them well watered until they are 6 inches high, then plant out in rows 2 feet apart, the plants to be 18 inches apart in the rows. Put to each plant a stout stick 6 feet high, and keep the plant tied to ' . \ 62 it. Pinch out all the side growths, these spring from the base of the leaves, and are easily distingulshed from the bunches of fruits. The plants will bear much more fruit if trained in this way, than if left to grow with several stems or branches. Dig up the land thoroughly before planting. Water the plants as. soon as they are planted if there is no rain, water every other day for three weeks after planting, after which water twicea week until the fruits begin to colour, when once a week will be often enough to water. The land should be naturally rich as heavy manuring tends to spread. disease. Carter’s Perfection and Dedham Favourite are excellent Tomatoes. Blenheim Orange is a good yellow Tomatoe. A crop of fruit is now ripening at Hope Gardens, and those who are interested in the cultivation are invited to see the growing plants. NOTES ON ORANGES AND LEMONS. From U.S. Consutar Reports. Orange and Lemon Crop in Southern Italy.—Consul Dean writes from Naples, October 7, 1895: The Island of Sicily is the most productive centre of southern It lay of orangesand lemons. The exportation of these fruits to the United States. from the Bay of Naplesis wholly from Castellamere diStabia and Sorrento. After Sicily in productiveness come Rodi, the Sorrentine peninsula, and the province of Calabria. The harvesting of the Sorrentine crop usually begins the last of November and ends in August, while in some parts of southern Italy the seaaon often begins as late as December and ends in July. From nearly every quarter I learn that last season’s crop was greatly injured by the frost, rain, and strong winds, and that most of the shipments tothe United States were ata heavy loss to the consignors. Rodi oranges of the best quality produced in Italy and enjoying a high re- putation in America were abso-lutely depreciated. The trees are still suffering from tho effects of theextreme weather of last year. The coming season is not full of pro-mise. It is estimated that the orange and lemon crop will be less than last year, or two thirds of the average. The above applies to all citrus fruits of southern Italy. ’ Bitter Orange Trees for Grafting.—Consul Seymour writes from Palermo, October 22, 1895: In Sicily, the bitter-orange is mostly used for the grafting of orange and lemon trees, as the best results are obtained from it. The bitter orange tree is produced in the following manner: A well-manured bed is prepared, and in March bitter orange seed are inserted about 2 inches apart init. The seeds sproutin April or May, and are left to grow in the same bed for about two years; the plants are then removed in January or February and planted in single rows, well manured, at a distance of 6 or 7 feet apart. After about three years, depending on the strength of the soil, the sprouts are again transplanted in January or February, placing them about 16 inches apart: When the trunks of the small bitter orange trees are three inches in diameter, they are ready for grafting purposes. The grafting is usually done in May, but may be done as late as August, provided it is not done in wet weather. 63 Increased Importation of Lemons.—Consul Seymour writes from Palermo, October 15, 1895: Owing to the exceptional high prices—as much as $10 per box being paid for lemons in the United States during the month of September— 40,000 boxes were imported during that month into the United States from Palermo, against 9,000 boxes for the same month of last year. DISTRIBUTION OF SEEDS AND PLANTS. Seed of the White Velvet Ochro is available for distribution at 1d. per packet on application to Director of Public Gardens, Gordon Town P. O. This variety is very smooth and delicate, and extremely prolific. Seeds of four different coloured Iponceas (red, white, blue and claret) are also ready for distribution at ld. per packet. These are generally known here by the common name of ‘Morning glory.” Cocoa pods can be supplied shortly at 3s. per dozen. Liberian Coffee in bamboo pots can now be delivered, packed, at 8s. er 100. Plants from the beds wrapped in moss, but not in pots, can be delivered at 2s. per 100. PASTEURISATION OF MILK. By G. B. Lawson. Milk when drawn from a healthy cow is in its purest state. As soon as it is cooled down to the same temperature as the surrounding atmosphere it begins to deteriorate. Mulk very often absorbs its odours and the bacteria that are in its surroundings. As you cannot tell how long it has been exposed and how many bacteria it contains, it must, if it is required to be kept sweet any length of time for commercial pur- poses, be pasteurised. Pasteurising milk or cream is heating it to 160° to retard the growth of the bacteria it may contain, and then cooling it to 50° as fast as possible so as to give it keeping qualities, One year ago last May we were selling cream to one of the local milk dealers who was furnishing cream to a restaurant for making ice- cream. If the cream was used early in the morning it was all right, but if it was kept till noon it would be soured so as to spoil it for freez- ing. About that time I saw an article in a dairy paper stating that if cream was pasteurised it would keep sweet for 24 hours. I did not have much faith in it, but I tried it with one quart of cream. I thought if I spoiled one quart of cream it would not be much loss. I put that quart of cream in a tin pail and put the pail in a tub of warm water, turned on the steam and heated the water until it was boiling. I kept the pail in the water, all the time stirring the cream with the thermometer, until it was heated to 150°, as that was the temperature to which the paper said it was to be heated. After it was heated enough I set the pail in a butter tub and packed it all round with broken ice and salt, and stirred it until cooled to 50°, then I put the cream in a quart measure and set it in the refrigerator which was at a temperature of from 45° to 50°. JI examined that cream every day, and kept it sweet for four days ; on the fifth day it began to sour. The first trial convinced me that pasteurising was what we needed to keep cream sweet and make pasteurised cream an article of commerce, 3 Per a ee fe Oe ae = al a iat a = oe Se . = : = Sj e~ - oe 64 Since that time I have pasteurised cream every day during the ice- cream season, with good results if properly done. Shortly after that — time we had an order for ten gallons of cream from a firm as a sample. The first ten gallons pleased them so well that we sent them ten gallons every day. Ina week the order was doubled, and in a short time we were sending them thirty gallons a day—all the separator cream we had. As there was a good deal of work in thus pasteurising this amount of ream, I tried cooling it on a different plan. One Saturday I had thirty gallons of cream I wanted to keep over till Monday. I heated it up as usual ; instead of cooling it as I had been doing with ice, I put the cream in two twenty-gallon cans and set them in the refrigerator, expecting they would cool all right. Next morning that cream was sour, and by Monday morning it was quite thick. I thought that lot of cream was spoilt. AsI didnot like to throw it away and waste so much cream, I put it in the cream vat before any of the cream came in for the day. That cream being sour acted asa starter, and when the cream was churned next morning, I had the best flavoured butter for the Monday’s gathering I had made that season. As pasteurised cream has such a fine flavour I experimented on a lot of it, and made a small tub of butter from pasteurised cream. We had three samples of butter in the creamery at the time—one of gathered cream, of one pasteurised cream, and one of raw separator cream. I showed these samples of butter to several commission men, and they all pronounced the sample made from the pasteurised cream the finest flavour. After hear- ing such favourable reports I concluded to send a tub of butter made from pasteurised cream where it could get an official score on it, so for the September exhibit at the World’s Fair, I madea tub of butter from cream thus treated. The score was 97, three points “ off” in flavour, all others perfect. At that time we were selling so much cream for ice-cream purposes that I had to keep the cream over for one day and mix it with the next day’s cream to have enough to make a churning. That every butter maker knows, is not the best way to make premium butter. Even under these conditions, that tub of butter made from pasteurised cream two days old was one of the three that scored the highest for that month. I believe thatif I had enough cream in one day for a churning the score would have been higher. For making that tub of butter I will get a medal and diploma. I believe that if all sepa- rator cream was pasteurised that we should have a better class of butter. This last spring when we commenced pasteurising cream for sale purposes, the demand took all the separator cream we had, so I did not make any butter from pasteurised cream this past season, as there is more money in selling cream than in making butter. When | first began pasteurising cream I did it in a very primitive way by heating the cream in an open pan set in a tub of boiling water. As our trade increased we could not get along fast enough that way, as we were sending as much as 90 gallons per day to one firm. As is always the case “ necssity is the mother of invention.” I got up a heater that would heat the cream as fast as it ran from the separator. The heater is made from the best tin. It is 8 in. in diameter, and high enough to be placed under the cream spout of the separator. It has an outside pipe with a funnel on top of it to catch the cream, and runs the cream to the bottom of the heater where it enters. As the cream rises in the heater 65 it is warmed to the proper temperature before it rises to outlet pipe. This outlet pipe is 3 in., from the top of the heater so as to give space for the froth to rise above it and not run over the top of the heater. The outlet pipe has a joint in it so that it can be easily cleaned. The heater is placed in a barrel of water which is kept boiling by having a steam pipe direct from the boiler into it. The barrel has a long staple on each side of it which reaches above the heater, and these staples hold a brace in its place that goes across the heater to hold it down. The The barrel has to be full of boiling water before the cream goes into the heater so that the cream will be heated sufficiently before it rises to the outlet pipe. If I was going to pasteurise for butter-making I would run the cream into a cooler made the same as the heater. Instead of setting it in boil- ing water I would place it in a barrel, and pack it all around with crush- ed ice and salt. Fine crushed ice and salt will make a temperature of zero, which will cool the cream to 80°, which is the temperature of the cream as it usually comes from the separator without pasteurising. Pas- _ teurising, to be properly done, depends as much, on the cream being cooled to 50° or under, as quickly as possible as it does on heating it to 160°. The quicker the cream is cooled, the better it is, and the longer it will keep sweet.—(American National Butter and Cheesemakers’ Association). ORCHIDS AT HOPE GARDENS. The following orchids have lately been in fine flower at Hope Gar- dens :— Oncidium ampliatum.—This orchid was first discovered in the Gulf of Nicoya, in Costa Rica, and was subsequently gathered in various parts of Central America from Guatemala to the Isthmus of Panama. The flower-spike, which springs from the base of the matured pseudo- bulb, is from lft. to 3ft. long, branched, and many flowered. The flowers which sometimes exceed 14 inches in diameter, have yellow sepals with red spots, and there are a few red spots about the base of the petals and lip, otherwise the colour is bright canary- yellow. Dendrobium formosum var, gigantewm.—First introduced to European gardens from the Khasia Hills, in 1837. It.is widely distributed over north-eastern India and Burmah, from Sylhet and the Garrow Hillssouth- ward as for as Tavoy on the Tenasserim coast. In British Burmah it is abundant from Moulmein to Tavoy, especially about Amherst, where the native women use the flowers to adorn their hair. It is also a native of the Andaman Islands, and some of the very finest forms are found in Mangrove swamps along the sea-coast, where the plants are washed by sea-spray during stormy weather. In these islands there is rain during 11 months of the year, so that the plants have practically no resting season. This is the largest-flowered, and finest of the white dendrobiums. The flowers are produced towards the ends of the leafy stems, usually in clusters of 3 to 5; the individual flowers are about 4 inches across, of the purest white, save an orange-yellow blotch on the lip ; the sepals are lance-shaped and pointed ; the petals almost as broad as long, blunt; the lip has a large, tongue-like, reflexed front. _f ap - pm c 4 - wi x = SS ee . 2 bai 1 2 —— = ~— = * ~ s — S a 3 ? De] = ‘j = = 7 3 a Ss = ert $= SS - S — eb at ee ST TY ERT SS EET IO x = : m< = ~~ = —— a —- — ae oom - a nary - a ag . ai Rs = ~~ — eS . — J re ul 4 = : Ss ee z ar li ae = _ = “é a ~ = = = a ee ee = cs = = . |), ee ee Six") . eo x x | | . : x | xs d A bo dl be | | x | == | NAME. CaTTLEYA, contd. C guttata, Lindl., var. ah aie Hort. . Intermedia, Graham . labiata, Lindl. . var. Dowiana, Batem. var. Dowiana aurea, Hort. . var. Gaskelliana, Hort. var. Luddemanniana, Reichb.f (C. speciosissima, Hort.) var. Mendellii, Hort. . var. Mossize, Hook. . var. I'rinzei, Linden &Reichb. f . var. Trinzi rosea. Hort. . var. Warneri, Moore var. Warscewiczii, Reichb. f (C. Gigas, Linden &é André) . Loddigesii, Lind!., var Harri- ‘soni, Lindl. C. Skinneri, Lindl. C. superba, Schomb., var. splen- dens, Hort. bs Walkeriana, (sardn., var. Schroe- deriana, Reichb. F. C. spp. Catia. Lindl. [Epidendree. ] e29909 bo he QR OOQS Q 84 Habitat. Brazil .| Brazil .| Brazil .| Costa Rica .| New Granada .| Venezuela Verezuela . New Granada Venezuela New Granada .| New Granada South Brazil New Granada .| Brazil Guatemala Venezuela and Guiana .| Brazil .| Colombia C. Baueriana, Lindl. (C. triptera, G. Don) Canoeyne, Lindl. [Epidendrez. ] C. cristata, Lindl. .( Himalayan Region C. Dayana, Reichb. f. .| Borneo C. flaccida, Lindl. .| Himalayan Region C. Massangeana, Reichb. f. .| Assam C. ovalis, Lin 1. .| Himalayan Region C. speciosa, Lindl. .| Java ComParettia, Depp. [ Vandez. ] C, falcata, Poepp. & Endl. CoryanTHES, Hook. [Vandeez. | C. sp. CRANICHIS, Sw. [ Neottiese. ] C. diphylla, Sw. CrypropHoRANtHus, Barb. Redr. [Epi- dendreve. | C. atropurpureus, Rolfe .| Jamaica; Cuba; Peru .| Jamaica .| Jamaica and Cuba Jamaica, Cubaand Mexico Where Grown, | Hope. MMM eM MO bob hd od OO Od I aa bo | Castleton. b al ala Mom | Hill Garden. King’s House. 4 a SP | NAME. eCymBipium, Sw. [Vandez. | C. aloifolium, Hovk. See C. pen- dulum, Sw. C, eburneum, Lindl. C. elegans, Lindl. See Cyperorchis elegans, Blume C, giganteum, Wall. C. Lowianum, Reichb. f. C, pendulum, Sw. ‘(CyPERORCHIS, Blume. [Vandez.] C. elegans, Blume Cypripepium, L. [Cypripedieze. } C. barbatum, Lindl. C. caudatum, Lindl., var. rosewm, Hort. See Selenipedium cauda- tum, var. roseum Chamberlainianum, O’ Brien Lathamianum, Reichb. f. Lawrenceanum, Reichb. f. Leeanum, Veitch . Sedenii, var.candidulum, Reichb. if. See ‘Selenipedium Sedenii, var. candidulum C. Spicerianum, Reichb. f. C. superbiens, Reichb. f. J OO2R8 Cyrtopera, Lindl. See Cyrtopodium Cyrtopopium, R. Br. [Vandez.] C. Woodfordii, Benth. : Denprosivum, Sw. [Epidendres] . aggregatum, Roxb. . barbatulum, Lindl. : . bigibbum, Lindl. b. var. giganteum, Hort. b. var. superbum, Hort. Calceolaria, Carey . chrysanthum, Wall. Dalhousieanum, Wall. See D. pulchellum, Roxb. Dearei, Reichb. f. J densiflurum, Wall. . Devonianum, Paxt. . Draconis, Reichb. E. . eburneum, Reichb. f. See D. Draconis, Reich. 3 D. Farmerii, Paxt. i D, fimbriatum, Hook., var. oculatum, Hort. SeCre. Were 85 Habitat. Trop. Himalaya .| Trop. Himalaya .| Trop. Himalaya .| Trop. Himalaya ; Ceylon .| Sub-tropical Himalaya .| Malacca .| New Guinea .| Garden Hybrid .| North Borneo Garden Hybrid .| Assam .| Malacca West Indies .| Burma and S. China Hindostan .| Australia .| Australia .| Australia .| Himalayan Region .| Himalayan Region Philippine Islands .| Nepal to Assam ; Burma .| Himalayan Region .| Burma Himalayan Region .| Burma Where Grown. | | 3| 3 ais &. | i i S n é| Se oo a Bio 3 O| | cmt| ons Ho| mis = es x oe x x | x xn apd | x |. x ai a A %.4 me pis ie a: Meh ew Mw —— eee DENDROBIUM, contd. NAME. D. formosum, Roxb., var. giganteum, Hort. D. moschatum, Wall. See D. Cal- ceolaria, Carey D. nobile, Lindl. . pendulum, Roxb. . Phalznopsis, Fitzg. Po var. Schroederianum, Hort.. P. var. Statterianum, Hort. Pierardi, Roxb. . pulchellum, Roxb. speciosum, Sm., var. Hillii, S dyyooYy densiflorum, D. tortile, Lindl .,var. roseum,Hort. D. undulatum, R. Br. D. veratrifolium, D. Wardianun, Hook : thrysiflorum, Reichb. f. See D. Wall. Lindl. Warner. pendulum, Roxb. D. spp. DeENDROPHYLAX, Reichd. f. ola) D. Faweettii, Rolfe D. funalis, Benth. Diacrivm,- Lindl. D. bicornutum, Benth. Dicuza, Lindl. [Epidendrez. ] [ Vande. } D. echinocarpa, Lindl. D. glauca, Lindl. D. graminoides, Lindl. (D. graminea, Griseb.) ELLEANTHUS, Presl. E. capitatus, Reichb. f. E. longibracteatus, Benth. Eripenpruy, L. [Epidendreee. ] [Epidendrez. ] E. anceps, Jacq. .| Jamaica ; Habitat. India and Burma .| India and China .| Burma .| Australia New Guinea .| Timor Laut .| India and Burma .| India and Burma Australia Burma .| Australia .| New Guinea See D. Cayman Islands .| Jamaica .| Trinidad; Guiana .| Jamaica, Cuba, etc. ~ Jamaica, Cuba, Mexico | "Week Hattaas &e. .| West Indies E. atropurpureum, Willd. .| Venezuela E. bicornutum, Hook. See Dia- crium E. bifarium, Sw. -, Jamaica KE. bletioides, Griseb. .| Jamaica E. ciliare, Linn. .| Trop. America E. cochleatum, Linn. -| West Indies, etc. E, difforme, Jacq. Trop. America E. diffusum, Sw. See Seraphyta multiflora, Fisch & Mey. .| Jamaica ; Trinidad; Brazil New Granada, Where Grown. b4 HAM aA Mh | Hope. Castleton. ‘al ho om OH .| 2 = 5| 5 =| 0 a me m8 = HW aa Ka: wb Where Grown. S NAME. Habitat. i &| 5 a | a) ty | 8| 2) ‘a d| S| Ol % a) S| — o| 3| | 8 Epipenvrou, L. So Sane K. fragrans, .| Trop. America ae ae Ge EL. fuscatum, Sw. See E. anceps, Jacq. E. Godseffianum, Rolfe .| Brazil ae EK. jamaicense, Lindl. .| Jamaica jh, Dene E. macrochilum, Hook. See E, | atropurpureum, WILLD. E. nocturnum, Jacq. .| Trop, America x | »' ee E. nutans, Sw. .| Jamaica xx fete EK. Obrienianum, Rolfe .| Garden Hybrid x E. paniculatum, Ruiz & Pay. .| Trop. S. America x EK. polybulbon, Sw. .| West Indies, etc. wie ae K. radicans, Pav. .| Mexico be Fe KE. ramosum, Jacq. .| Trop. America x+) x E. rivulare, Lindl. .| Jamaica ; Cuba ex K, serrulatum, Sw. .| Jamaica x HK. spondiadum, Reichb. f. .| Jamaica ; Costa Rica aS woe E. Stamfordianum, Batem. .| Central America and Co-|x|}x|./x lombia E. tridentatum, Fawe. Jamaica y x E. unbellatum, Sw. See E. difforme, Jacq. EK. verrucosum, Sw. .| West Indies x|/Xixix Evelyna, Pepp. See Elleanthus Presl. Goncora, Ruiz & Pav. [Vandeee.] G. atropur purea, Hook. .| Trop. America ELE G. maculata, Lindl. See G. quin- quenervis. G. quinquenervis, Ruiz & Pav. .| Peru, etc. obese fats Goventa, Lindl. [Vandee. | G. utriculata, Lindl. .| Jamaica ; Cuba, etc. Fi ES GRAMMATOPHYLLUM, Blume, [Vandee. | G. Rumphianum, Mig. .| Moluccas ELEPa Ee Hasewaria, Willd. [Ophrydee. ] H. maculosa, Lindl. .| West Indies ee ‘Hormipium, Lindl [Epidendrez.] H. uniflorum, Heynh, .| Jamaica ; Mexico, etc, re ae (H. pygmeum, Benth.) Tonopsis, H.B.K. [Vandez.] I. testiculata, Lindl. .| Jamaica; Haiti ae I, utricularioides, Lindl. .| Jamaica; Cuba, ete. ae Pes Isocuitus, R. Br. FL Mpudendi teen] I, linearis, R .| West Indies to Brazil Sh ctz 88 Where Grown. : | 2 NAME. Habitat. “| tes s) 5) 5) ul tae Sei a] 2 Mm) oO; m| Lary, Lindl. [Epidendrez ] L. anceps, Lindl. .| Brazil x ex x L. crispa, Reichb. f. .| Southern Brazil x ee L. glauca, Benth. .| Mexico x L. grandiflora, Lindl. Mexico ep oe tee L. grandis, Lind, var. tenebrosa, God. Leb. Brazil ot AK L. majalis, Lindl. See L. grand- flora, Lindl. L. monophylla, N. E. Br. Jamaica x Se L. pumila, Reichb. f., var. Dayana, Reichb. f. Southern Brazil x L. purpurata, Lindl. .| Southern Brazil > al ik ¢ Leliopsis domingensis, Lindl. See Broughtonia lilacina, Henfr. Leocuitvs, Kn. & Westc. [ Vandee. ] L. cochlearis, Lindl. .| West Indies Aloe LeEpPantHEs, Sw. [ Epidendrez. ] L. pulchella, Sw. .| Jamaica chee L. rotundata, Griseb. .| Jamaica a te Liparis, Rich. [Epidendrez. | L. longipes. Lindl. -| Pacific Islands «| ae (L. pendula, Lindl.) L. viridi,urpurea, Griseb. .| Jamaica; Cuba x Lycaste, Lindl. [ Vandez. ] iL aromatic 1, Lindl. .| Mexico ee | oe L. Barringtonie, Lindl. .| Jamaica; Cuba pe gl > L. cruenta, Lindl. -| Guatemala x x L. leucantha, Klotzsch -| Costa Rica : x L. Skinneri, Lindl. -| Guatemala : x Macranventa, k Br. [Vandew.| M. lutescens, R. Br; .| Jamaica and Trinidad San ge Maspevatiia, Ruiz. Gd Pav. [Epiden- dreee. | M. coccinea, Linden, var. Harryana, Reichb. f. .| Colombia i (eee ha” M. fenestrata, Lindl. See Crypto- phoranthus atropurpureus, Rolfe Maxittarr, Ruiz é Pav. [Vandew.] M. alba, Lindl. .| Jamaica; Trinidad, etc. ae eee be M. crassifolia, Reichb. f. .| Jamaica ; Cuba, etc. ee M. grandiflora, Lindl. -| New Granada, Peru Soe 3 NAME, MAX1LLARIA, contd. Habitat. M. palmifolia, Lindl. See Xylo- bium decolor, Nichols. M. tenuifolia, Lindl. M. rufescens, Lindl. M, variabilis, Batem., var. media M. spp. Arorostyuis, Nutt. [Epidendrez. | M. spicata, Lindl. M. umbellulata, Lindl. Miutonta, Lind. [Vander.] MM. Roezlii, Nichols. M. spectabilis, Lindl. JorapEsMIA, Benth, [Epidendrese ] O. serratifolia, Benth. .| Mexico .| Trop. America .| Mexico .| Jamaica and Cuba .| West Indies .| Columbia .| Brazil .| West Indies ponToaLossuM, H. B. K. [Vandez.] : O. O. Alexandre, Batem. See crispum, Lindl. OO. cordatum, Lindl. OO. crispum, Lindl. - O. grande, Lindl. O. Harryanum, Reichb. f. O. leve, Lindl. (O. Reichenheimii, Reichb. f.) .| Mexico .| Colombia .| Guatemala .| South America .| Mexico and Guatemala O. Roezlii, Reichb.f. See Miltonia Roezlii, Nichols. O. Rossii, Lindl., var. majus, Hort.| Mexico O. triumphans, Reichb. f. O. spp. JNcIDIUM, Sw. [Vandez.] . altissimum, Sw. . ampliatum, Lindl. a, var. majus, Hort. . Cebolleta, Sw. incurvum, Barker Kramerianum, Reichb. f. Lanceanum, Lindl. . leucochilum, Batem. luridum, Lindl. - macranthum, Lindl. . Micropogon, Reichb. f. . Papilio, Lindl. . pulchellum, Hook. . quadripetalum, Sw. O, sphacelatum, Lindl, COSDDDOSOSOSOOO .| New Granada .| Colombia .| West Indies and Guiana .| Central America .| Central America .| W. Indies & Centr. Amer. Mexico .| Ecuador .| Guiana and Trinidad .; Guatemala .| West Indies, etc. .| Central America .| Brazil .| Trinidad .| Jamaica; Guiana .| West Indies, etc. .| Central America Where Grown. | ) |g = .| .2| 5 &) | S| a m |S! % | Save | eet | ors Oo; D)| x x | x x4 x | = x x x x |x x x = x =x Siz ho Ex x % | 2.2 x Kit ts ie Sh ies —. Paes x 90 NAME. Habitat. Oncrp1um, Sw. [ Vandez ] O. tetrapetalum, Willd. See O. quadripetalum, Sw. O. tigrinum, Llave & Lex. .| Mexico O. t. var. splendidum, A. Rich. Gautemala O. triquetrum, R. Br. .| Jamaica OrnitTHIpiIuM, Salisb. [Vandez. | O. confertum, Gri-eb. O. parviflorum, Reichb. f. (O. vestitwm, Reichb f.) PeristER1A, Hook. [Vandez. ] P. elata, Hook. P. pendula, Hook. Puatus, Lowr. [Epidendreeze. | P. grandifolius, Lour. PHALZENOPSIS, Blume. [Vandez. | P. amabilis, Blume. (P grandiflora, Lindl.) P. Sanderiana, Reichb. f. P. Schilleriana, Reichb. f. Puourpota, Lindl. [Epidendrez. | .| West Indies .| Jamaica ; Venezuela .| Panama .| Guiana .| China; Australia .| Malaya .| Philippine Islands .| Philippine Islands P. imbricata, Hook. .| India PLEUROTHALLIS, R. Br. [Epidendrez. | . longissima, Lindl. .| Jamaica . racemiflora, Lindl. : . testzefolia, Lindl. . tribuloides, Lindl. . uncinata, Fawe. . Wilsoni, Lindl. a ha-Beharlaehae) PotystacHuya, Hook. [ Vandez. ] P. luteola, Hook. Ponrtuieva, &. Br. [ Neottiez. | P. glandulosa, R. Br. P. petiolata, Lindl. PrescortiA, Lindl. [ Neottiez. | P. stachyodes, Lindl. PsEUDOCENTRUM, Lindl. [Neottiez. | P. minus, Benth. Rauyncuosty.is, Blume, [Vandeee. } R. retusa, Blume, var. preemorsa, | Reichb. f,, i i Trop. America .| Jamaica; Cuba, ete. .| Trop. America .| Jamaica .| Jamaica and Cuba .| Trop. America .| Jamaica ; Cuba, etc. .| West Indies Jamaica ; Cuba, etc, .| Jamaica Tro p. Himalaya; Ceylon 4 Where Grown. b Castleton. | Hope. | Hill Garden. King’s House. bt bd MoM KR RM 91 Where Grown. NaME. Ropriaetezia, Ruiz & Pav. R. secunda, H. B. K. SaccotaBium, Blume [Vandez ]} S. prenwrsum, Lindl. See Rhyn- chostylis retusa, var. preemorsa, [ Vandee. ] .| Trinidad; Guiana, ete. Habitat. Reichb. f. S. sp. .| India ScHomBurGKIA, Lindl. [Epidendrez. | S. Lyonsii, Lindl. .| Jamaica 8. Thomsoniana, Reichb. f. S. Tibicinis, Batem. Scuricaria, Lindl. [Vandee.] .| Cayman Islands .| Central America S. Steelei, Lindl. .| Guiana SELENIPEDIUM, Reichb. f. [Cypripe- diez. | S. caudatum, Reichb. f., var. roseum, Hort, .| Peru S. Sedenii, Reichb. f., var. candidulum, Reichb. f. . SerapHyTa, Fisch & Mey. [Epiden- drew. | S. multiflora, Fisch & Mey. Sopratia, Ruiz & Pav. [Neottiew. ] S. sp. SopHronirtis, Lindl. nee] S. coccinea, Lindl. (S. grandiflora, Lindl.) SPIRANTHES, Reichb. f. [Neottiez. ] S. orchioides, Hemsl. S. speciosus, Benth. S. tortilis, Rich. STanHopeA, Frost [Vandez.] S. eburnea, Lindl. S. oculata, Lindl. 8. Wardii, Lindl. S. sp. Sravropsis, Reichb. f. [Vandee.] S. gigantea, Benth. Garden Hybrid -| West Indies .| Tropical America .| Brazil .| West Indies .| Jamaica ; Cuba, etc. .| West Indies .| Central America -| Mexico .| Guatemala and Venezuela -| Burma 8. lissochiloides, Benth. -| Moluccas Steuis, Sw. [Epidendrez.] S. micrantha, Sw. ») Jamaica —_—_——- -—_————_— —- Castleton. Ao ais Ele Sita 1 —| — — fm) i x = x = x fx p< x x. = >a =x: . x x x : : NAME. Stentz, Lindl. [Vandez.] S. pallida, Lindl. Stenorhynchus orchioides, Rich. See Spiranthes orchioides, Hemls. Stenorhynchus speciosus, Rich. See Spiranthes speciosus, Benth. Tetramicra montana, Gr. See Octades- mia serratifolia, Benth. Tricnopinia, Lindl. [Vandee. ] Habitat. = Where Grown. Hope. Castleton. Hill Garden King’s House. | | | | | | | .| Jamaica, Trinidad, etc. T. mutica, Reichb. f. .| Jamaica T. rostrata, Reichb. f. .| New Granada T. tortilis, Lindl. .| Mexico Vanpa, R. Br. [Vandez. ] V. Amesiana, Reichb. f. V. Batemanii, Lindl. See Stau- ropsis lissochiloides, Benth. V. Bensonii, Batem, V. coerulea, Griff. : V. coerulescens, Griff, var. Boxallii, Reichb. f. 3 V. gigantea, Lindl. See Staurop- sis gigantea, Benth, V. Sanderiana, Reichb., f. V. teres, Lindl, VY. tricolor, Lindl. V. sp. ° Vanitta, Sw. [Neottiex.] V. claviculata, Sw. ° V. grandiflora, Lindl. See V. Pom- pona, Schiede V. pheantha, Reichb. f, V. planifolia, Andr, V. Pompona, Schiede : V. sp. c V. sp. Xytosium, Lindl. [Vandew.]} X. decolor, Nichols. ° ZyaorrETaLum, Hook. [Vandew.] Z,. rostratum, Hook, .| Southern Shan States .| Lower Burma Khasia and Jyntea Hills Philippine Islands .| Philippine Islands .| India, Assam and Burma .| Java .| Eastern Archipelago Jamaica; Haiti -, West Indies .| Mexico; Guatemala, ete. Mexico ; Colombia, etc. Jamaica -| Colombia -| West Indies .| Guiana P4 Pd bd b4 Pd bt 4 aa ° hw RK 4 93 FERNS: SYNOPTICAL LIST—XXXV. ynoptical List, with descriptions, of the Ferns and Fern-Allies of Ja- maica. By G.S. Jenman, Superintendent Botanical Gardens, Demerara. 19. Nephrodium stipulare, Moore.— Rootstock erect, stout or stoutish, ften several inches high, scaly; stipites czespitose, erect, 1-2 ft. L., ale-coloured, deciduously palaceous at the base, strong, subangular, ot channelled ; fronds erect, 14-4 ft. 1. 4-14 ft. w., papyraceous, more r less pubescent throughout ; light-green, rachis strong, subangular, ot channelled, naked or pubescent; pinne very numerous, sessile, spreading, contiguous, the lower 1-3 pairs usually somewhat reduced nd deflexed, central ones 5-9 in. 1. 2rds—l in. w., tapering from the ase to the acuminate and serrate-entire point; cut down 3ths-2ths to the costze into close subfalcate, oblong, flat, blunt, entire segments 14— 2 li. b., the costal pair enlarged, often much, (the inferior of the two usually the larger) entire or more or less incised or pinnatifid; veins simple, 8-10 to a side, lowest pair free or running together to the sinus; sori medial, pale or dark-coloured eventually ; inyolucres as large, pale, ciliate. —NV. patens, J. Smith. Aspidium, Willd. Plum. Fil. t, 23. a, var. macrourum.—Stipites 2 ft. 1. fronds 2} ft. 1 2—i1 ft. w.; segments narrower a line or less w., more falcate, the inferior pair more or less pinnatifid; surface less ciliate ; texture firmer ; rachis and stipe darker ; lowest veins quite free.—Pl. Fil. t. 23. Aspidium, Willd. N. macrourum, Hook. b. var. pseudo-patens, Jenm.—Stipites slender, 9-12 in. 1.; fronds ovate-deltoid, widest below the middle, 9-12 or 15 in. |. 6-9 in. w. ; pinne linear, serrato-acuminate, 4-6 l. w.; segments falcate, acute, #- 1 1. w. lowest veins quite free. Common in open and half-open places, often growing among bushes in ruinate pleces, from the lower hills up to 5,000 ft. altitude. The plant described as the type is much larger than patens, from which it is distinguished definitely by the stout erect rootstock, but there are less robust forms, a foot or two high, possessing the same kind of upright caudex that must be associated with it. The latter come near mol/e, but have not the simple vein running to the sinus which is characteristic of that species. The venation is variable, and some of the forms might be placed in the next division. Var. b, is a large plant, not very com- mon, well marked by its narrow segments with, when dry, reflexed edges. Var. b. grows on wet rocks by the sides of rivers. It is marked by the much smaller spreading fronds, their ovate-deltoid shape, and the narrow pinne, resembling those of serra. The enlarged basal pinnulz vary in the different forms; in the most developed state they are 1 in. 1. } in. w. and deeply pinnatifid. In most cases however they are much smaller and entire. 20. N. Filiz-mas, Rich.—Rootstock stout, erect, densely paleaceous on the crown. stipites densely cespitose, strong, erect, 4-6 or 8 in. 1. densely clothed like the rootstock; fronds erect, lanceolate or ovate- lanceolate, narrowed downwards 14-24 ft. 1, 8-12 in. w. bipinnatifid; 94 | firmly chartaceous, glabrous, bright green above, paler and lurid green beneath; pinne close, spreading horizontally, the reduced lower ones only a little apart, aud deflexed, sessile and broadest at the base, tapering thence to the finely serrate-acuminate point 4-7 in. 1. $rd 1 in. or over w. lower ones 2-3 in. |. pinnatifid almost to the cost ; seg- ments straight, oblong or linear-oblong, rounded, close, with the base not dilated and the sinus sharp, 14-24 li. w. 4-6 li. 1., even or slightly crenate ; rachis strong, subangular, stramineous, densely clothed with ferruginous fibrillose scales as are also the coste at the base. veins once or twice forked, curved; sori 1-serial on the anterior venules, nearly medial between ribs and margins; involucres ample, convex, naked.— Polypodium, Linn. Aspidium, Sw. Infrequent on the highest ridges and peaks of the Blue Mountains at about 7,000 ft. alt., a very interesting discovery made a few years ago by Dr. Morris, while in charge of the Botanical Department. Though common on the mainland from Greenland to Peru, and often of late years sought for in Jamaica, it had not before been found in the West Indies. The form is identically the tropical American one, which is distinguished by the very dense bright shaggy coating of the rachis, very numerous close tapering horizontal pinne, and close equal ended entire or finely crenate segments. Though the fronds are gradually reduced below, the lower pinne are 2-3 in. long, with some variation of form in different countries, the species is widely spread in > Europe, Asia, Africa and America. 21. NV. hirtum, Hook.—Rootstock short, upright or oblique, very densely clothed with long linear undulate dark brown scales ; stipites czespitose, erect or somewhat spreading, 3-9 in. 1. clothed at the base like the rootstock, copiously fibrillose and glandulose upwards ; fronds deltoid or oblong-deltoid, 4 to 8 in. l. 3-5 in. br. tri-quadripin- natifid,* thin ; ash-green, glandulose, slightly ciliate or naked ; rachis coste and costule more or less freely clothed like the stipites ; pimne spreading lowest subdeltoid and deeper on the inferior side, petiolate, central oblong, stipitate or sessile, rather blunt-pointed, 4-1 in. w. 14-3 in. L, those above to the acuminate apex gradually reduced, ultimate segments oblong, blunt, the outer ones at least, adnate and decurrent at the base, serrate with appressed bluntish teeth, lobed or deeply pinnatifid, the lobes a line or less w. and 1-2 li. d.; veins pinnate in the larger lobes; sori terminal on the short branches, medial; involucres brownish disappearing with age. Aspidium Swartz. Polypodium crystallinum, Kze. Common in forests on and among calcareous rocks from 2,000-— 5,000 ft. altitude ; generally distributed through the colony, variable in size; mostly found small, with spreading deltoid or elongate-deltoid fronds 3-6 in. |. well distinguished by its small size, copious vestiture, glandulose surface and pale colour. The largest state which is erect in habit, is plentiful in the forest above Moody’s Gap, on the ridge between the parishes of St. Andrew and Portland. * The measurements given of the pinnx, pinnule, &c., in this division do not apply to the lowest pairs of pinne, which are deeper and more com pomnd on the underside than are the rest above, 95 CASTLETON GARDENS. Visitors to the Gardens may expect to see the following plants in flower or fruit during the month of May :— In FLoweEr. In Frvit. Amherstia nobilis, Wall. Astrocaryum vulgare, Mart. Arenga saccharifera, Labill. Diospyros discolor, Willd, Averrhoa Bilimbi, Linn. Duranta Plumieri, Jacq. Baphia nitida, Lodd Eugenia malaccensis, Linn. Bassia latifolia, Roxb. Garcinia Mangostana, Linn. Brownea Rosa-de-monte, Berg. Gmelina asiatica, Linn. Ceesalpinia Sappan, Linn, Hevea brasiliensis, Muell. Arg. Castilloa elastica, Cerv. Mimusops Elengi, Linn. Chrysalidocarpus lutescens, H. Michelia Champaca, Linn. Wendl. Musa coccinea, Andr. Couroupita guianensis, Aubl. Nephelium Lit-chi, Cambess, Cratoxylon polyanthum, Korth. Pachira aquatica, Aubl. Diospyros montana, Roxb. e Barrigon, Seem. Diplothemium caudescens, Mart. Phoenix acaulis, Buch Ham. Eugenia javanica, Lam. Samadera indica, Geertn. ** malaccensis, Linn. Sapindus marginatus, Willd. Garcinia Mangostana, Linn. (S. incequalis, D. C.) Gmelina asiatica, Linn. Shorea robusta, Geertn. f. Hydnocarpus venenata, Geertn. Spondias lutea, Linn. Lagerstroemia, Flos-reginz, Retz. Vanilla planifolia, Andr. Landolphia Kirkii, Dyer. Mesua ferrea, Linn. Mimusops Elengi, Linn. Musa rosacea, Jacq. Nephelium Lit-chi, Cambess. Norantea guianensis, Aubl. Pachira aquatica, Aubl. lp Barrigon, Seem. Platymiscium polystachyum, Benth. Plumeria acutifolia, Poir. Ravenia spectabilis, Engl. Vanilla planifolia, Andr. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT. LIBRARY. Hooker’s lecones Plantarum. Vol. V. Pt. If. [Bentham Trustees through Kew. ] Catalogue of Plants in Bot. Gardens Sydney. [Kew. | Hand List of Orchids cultivated in Royal Gardens, Kew. [Kew. |} Rulletin New York Agri. Exp. Station. No. 95, Nov. 1895, [Dept. of Agri. | Bulletin Kolonial Museum, Haarlem. March, 1896. [ Editor. ] Bulletin Bot. Station, St.Vincent. No.19. [Curator ] Agri. Journal, Cape Colony. Nos. 1-3. Jan. & Feb. 1896. [Dept. of Agri. ]} Agri. Gazette & Planters Journal. Barbados. No.2. 1896. [Editor.] Agri. Gazette of N.S. Wales. Pt. 1I. Nov. 1895. [Dept. of Agri. | Agri. Ledger. No. 16 of 1894 & No. 19 of 1895. [Supt. of Govt. Printing, Indi:.] Journal Royal Agri. & Com. Socy. of British Guiana. Dec. 1895. [Editor.] British Trade Journal. No. 399. March, 1896. [Editor.] Revue Agricole, Mauritius. No.12. Dec. 18951 & 2 Jan. & Feb. 1896 [ Editor. | Report New York Agri. Exp, Station for 1894. [ Director. ] Report Manchester Museum, Owens College 1890 94. [ Keeper. ] Report Dept. of Agri., Queensland. 1894-5. [Dept. of Agri.] Smithsonian Report. 1893, [S. National Museum. ] ae ee see ee = bead Sy oe a a > — es = i “a. 2 - = é at Y — ~" x : _— - er a = - — - » —— —————T —- “ ~ — — - “ - a Pe ° - ~ - = : ~ - — — -— —-- --—- —— a - “a - a a+ - = — ke I > = 7+ ~ . “ ~— - a. tana — nm nis at « —_ = ss = — toe pa y ot i " seal — - =. p> Sersarert oo a = == . x - a, om we ——- : n= act = C= —— = Fo Report Secy. for Agri. Nova Scotia 1895. [Dept. of Agri.] Report Govt Stock Farm, Trinidad for 1895. [Manager.] Report on Dairying in Australia. [Dept. of Agri. Cape a Proc. & Trans. of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science. Vol. VIM. [Institute. ] Report Bot. Station, Lagos. 1894. [Curator.] Report on Sugar Industry in Antigua. [F. Watts. ] Botanical Gazette. No.2. Feby. 1896. [Editor. Experimental Station Record. Vol. VII. No. 5. Ay. S. Dept. of Agri.] Additions to the Flora of Washington by Theo. Holm. [Author.] W. 1. & Com. Advertiser. Feby. 1896. [Editor.] W.1. Home Builder. Feby. 1896. [Ed.] Produce World Nos. 20 & 22. Feby. & March 1896. ([Editor.| Sugar Jourval, Queensland. No.12. Jan.1896, [Editor.] Sugar Cane. No. 519. Feby. 1896. [Editor.] Chemist and Druggist. Nos. 824-829. Feby. 1896. [Editor. ] Montreal Pharmaceutical Journal. No.12. March, 1896. [Editor.] Contributions to the Fl:ra of Yucatan. Vol.1. No.1. by C.S. Millspaugh. [Author, and Smithsn. Inst.] Times of Ceylon. Nos. 4-7. Feby. 1896. [Editor.] SEEDS. From Royal Gardens, Kew. Schotia latifolia Leucadendron argenteum Ligustrum Walkeri Careya arborea. From Botanic Gardens, Bangalore. Cassia montana. From Botanic Gardens, Hong Kong. Cunninghamia sinensis Pinus sinensis Melastoma condidium o sanguineum ; Sida corylifolia. | From Botanic Gardens, Saharanpur. Phoenix rupicola. | From Messrs. Dammann & Co., Italy. oy = | Quercus Suber. From Mons. Ch. Patin, Colombia. Welfia regia. From J. CG. Farquharson, Latimer, Montego Bay. Shaddock. Mrs Barclay, Mandeville. Cobzea scandens. PLANTS. From Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons. 20 varieties each :— Fuchsia 7 Pelargonium—French spotte Do. Zonal. From Botanic Station, Dominica, Pimenta acris. From Dr. Piazton, Kingston. Camellias (two pl ints) Wistaria, . ew Series. | MAY, 1896. sheet BULLETIN oy THE ~ BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, JAMAICA. EDITED BY WILLIAM FAWCETT, B.Sc., F.LS. Director of Public Gardens and Plantations. CONTENTS: Notes on Citrus Fruits — PAGE 97 Dairy Industry _ 98 Ferns: Synoptical List—XXXVI - 110 Castleton Gardens - 116 Sarsaparilla ~ 117 Alfalfa and Stable Manure - 117 Contributions to the Department - 119 P RIC E—Threepence. A Copy will be supplied free to any Resident in Jamaica, who will send Name and Address to the Director of Public Gardens and Plantations, Gordon Town P.C. KINGSTON, JAMAICA: GovERNMENT Printing OFrrice, 79 Duke Street. 1896. * —_ "= of . JAMAICA. BULLETIN OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT. Vol. III. Part. New Series. | MAY, 1896. CITRUS FRUITS. The following letter from the Manager of the Boston Fruit Co., will show what is being done by one Company alone in Jamaica. The Mandarins referred to in the Enclosure are generally called Tan- gierine here. Notes on Lime Juice are published in the Bulletins for May and Sept. 1895. Capt. L. D. Baker to Director of Public Garaens and Plantations. Port Antonio, March 28, 1896. Dear Sir, I herewith send you letter which I have received froma very ex- tensive travelling friend of mine, who has favoured me with his opinion in reference to oranges and citrus fruit. I thought perhaps it might suit you to add this to your Bulletin. Oranges.—I am glad to say that the lot of oranges you ordered for me have been put out at Hyde Estate, and are looking bright and prosperous. I have, since that time, ordered from the same parties, nine dozen more. They have arrived and are being put out at ‘‘ Golden Grove” and ‘“ Belvidere ;” and I now have another order in for 1,000 trees for “Salt Pond” property. I think this will be quite enough this season to give us all the buds and grafts that we may need, and establishing the fact of growing oranges successfully in Jamaica. We have nurseries of our own tothe extent of about 20,000 trees, two thousand of which were planted from seeds a year ago and are now from 18 inches to 3 feet high and almost ready to take the bud. The balance has been planted this last season. I consider it very important that we should use every effort to put our orange production on a safe basis against any competition; and I see no reason why we cannot. With kind regards, Yours very truly, L. D. Baxzr. 98 _ [Enclosure. ] . Mr. A. Van Winkle io Capt. L. D. Baker. 219 & 221 Market St., Newark, N.J., 19th March, 1896. Dear Sir, Agreeably to promise, I send you the name of the town in Egypt noted for Mandarins, the following from page 227 of Baedeker’s Lower Egypt :— a4 Bonhe, 10} miles from Alexandria and # hours from Cairo. The red oranges and the Yusuf Efendi Mandarins of Benha are much esteemed at Cairo, and excellent grapes are also produced here.” The Mandarins are certainly the finest I have ever eaten, although not as large as I saw growing wild as high up as Newcastle. There is a growing demand for this fruit here. I find your Limes are cheaper and contain more juice than any I hhave seen in my travels. Has it occurred to you to make this into Ci- tric Acid, or to neutralize with lime and export as Citrate of Lime? ‘Twenty gallons of lemon juice yields 10lbs. of crystals of Citric Acid. Limes more than this. Price of Citric Acid here is 37 cts. per lb. Yours truly, flore albo - rustica Deutzia crenata Papaver orientale, var. majus Elaeagnus longipes - Rhoeas, var. ‘¢ Shir- * umbellata ley” Himalayan Raspberry =: somniferum Hemerocallis flava Philadelphus hirsutus - . var. Kwanso Primula cortusoides Inula Helenium 9 denticulata Iris Pseudacorus nz japonica = spuria var. notha ° rosea Lupinus elegans = verticillata S mutabilis Pyrus floribunda = pulchellus Maulei Lyonia ligustrina = Ringo Mesembryanthemum cordifolium * Toirngo OWT 120 Rheum officinale ? ad Raponticum “ Webbianum Rosa moschata “ multifiora “5 rubiginosa “ “ major Rubus laciniatus Spathodea campanulata Taxus baccata rf i adpressa = Dovastonii % $ fastigiata i = fructu-lutea ag 4 sinensis = = Washingtoni Thuja gigantea ee occidentalis 2 orientalis Forsythia suspensa Viburnum Opulus Vitis Labrusca Widdringtonia Whytei From Botanic Gardens, Trinidad. Eucalyptus rudis Eperua Jenmanii From Botanic Gardens, Brisbaen. Araucaria Bidwillii * Cunninghamii Erythrina speciosa Eleodendron quandrangulatum - Macadamia ternifolia Nephelium Lit-chi From Baron Sir F Von Mueller, Melbourne. Acacia cyclopsis # stenophylla Albizzia pruinosa Atriplex halimoides Brachychiton populneum Clematis pubescens Doryanthes Palmeri Eucalyptus corynocalyx - Globulus - drepanophylla Neptunia spicata Owenia rotioniaks From Messrs. Reasoner Bros., Florida. Eriobotrya japonica Cycas revoluta From H. E, Aristakes Azarian, Constan- tinople Anona Cherimolia, var. loxensis. From H. G. Bates, Arlebwry, Hants, Eng- land. Vine and Fig cuttings. From Botanic Gardens, Cape Town. _ Diosma alba Homeria elegans < Collina be miniata Lachenalia pallida Es pustulata “s racemosa 6s tricolor Lachenalia unifolia var: Wrightii Massonia pustulata ; Melaspharula graminea Gladolus gracilis Trichonema bulbocodivides be aurea Antholyza zthiopica major " minor Sparaxis bulhifera Albuca major Gladiolus recurvus. Geissorhiza mixed Ornithogalum aureum Dietes iridioides Morea tristis Synnotia tricolor Ferraria undulata Pelargonium hirsutum Freesia refracta alba Erica baccans Ixia conica Beometra columellaris Hesperantha falcata Polygala speciosa Hypoxis stellata mixed Homoglossum marianella. JUNE, 1896. Vol. III. Part 6. BULLETIN OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, JAMAICA. EDITED BY WILLIAM FAWCETT, B.Sc., F.LS. Director of Public Gardens and Plantations. CONTENTS: Directions for care of Young Grape Vines - pace 121 _ Notes concerning budding Orange trees — 122 _ Grapes for the U. 8. Market - 123 Notes on Cotton - 124 Ramie stripped by boys at Hope - 132 Directions for Planting Ramie ~ 134 Coffee Pulpers for Settlers - 135 Kola Nuts ae 136 Rules as to Sale of Lands to Settlers ~ 138 Ferns: Synoptical List—XXX VII - 141 Castleton Gardens - 143 Contributions to the Department - 144 P RIC E—Threepence. 4, i v ' A Copy will be supplied free to any Resident in Jamaica, who will send Name and _ Address to the Director of Public Gardens and Plantations, Gordon Town P.O. KINGSTON, JAMAICA: GOVERNMENT Printing Orrics, 79 DuKE StTRzet. \ : 1896. ye fytey "\ fer ; fi e 4 ai JAMAICA. BULLETIN BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT. New Series. ] JUNE, 1896. Vol. IIT. DIRECTIONS FOR CARE OF YOUNG GRAPE VINES. By Wo. Crapwick, Superintendent of Hope Gardens. On receipt of plants place the bamboo pots in a bath or pail of water for ten minutes, taking care that sufficient water is in the vessel to cover the pots, repeat this operation every other day until planting. A border must be prepared as follows, dig outa trench four feet wide, two and a half feet deep; the length to be regulated by the num- ber of vines to be planted, plant the first vine two and a half feet from ‘the beginning of the trench, a space of four feet to be left between every successive vine. In digging out the trench be careful to separate the good top soil from the subsoil if it be gravel, clay, sand or any such material which’ contains no plant food. When the trench has been dug the required depth, return the top good soil to the bottom of the trench ; place on the top of this if possible a layer of good rotten cow manure six inches deep; to this may be added charcoal, wood ashes, bones, spent lime, forming a layer 2 inches thick; fill up the trench with good ordinary soil and give the whole a good soaking of water; allow two or three days to pass before planting. Vines must be planted in an open situation at least 100 feet from any large tree; and the border must have a southern or a southeastern aspect, quite free from shade, as the early morning sun is indispensable. To plant out the young vines, split the bamboo joint at the bottom, taking care not to injure the roots; make a hole in the bord:r with the hand of sufficient size to receive the young plant easily, if the plant has a quantity of roots and they are matted together spread them out carefully, cover the roots with soil, press fairly firm with the hand, and water at once. Nothing further requires to be done, but i support the plant with a good strong stake, which must not be placed in the ground nearer than 6 inches from the plant, and remove all side growths, allowing the plant to grow as long as possible; keeping it well watered up to the end of September, about which time they will naturally gradually cease to grow. Further instructions as to the treatment of the plants for next year will be issued before it is necessary for anything further to be done to the plants, : 122 NOTES CONCERNING BUDDING ORANGE TREES. Those who are taking up Orange culture may proceed in various ways to increase and supplement the trees they already possess. They may bud mature trees of worthless kinds, either when they are growing, or after transplanting; they may grow their own sweet seedlings; or they may bud sweet or sour seedlings. The reason for budding mature trees is that acropis secured ata much earlier date, but the disadvantages are that the yield is not so large, nor is the tree so long-lived, as in the other cases. The sweet seedlings are said to grow into larger trees and give a more abundant yield than any other ; bnt there is no certainty that the fruit will beas good as that of the parent tree. A sour seedling budded is said to give an earlier crop, but smaller than a sweet seedling budded or a sweet seedling unbudded. This has been the experience in Florida, but so far has not been proved yet in Jamaica. Advantage &c., in transplanting.—Budding on mature trees may be done either without moving them from where they are already growing, or aiter transplanting them. The advantage in transplanting is that the trees can be placed in regular rows exactly where they are wanted, so long as the soil is favourable. The disadvantage is that whereas a tree budded where it stands will bear in two years, it will not bear a crop for 3 years, if transplanted. Transplanting.— When transplanting a tree for budding, saw off the top about 5 feet from the ground. It will afterwards be cut down to 3 feet, but it is well to leave the extra length at first to use as a lever in loosening it from the soil. Cut off the roots all round with the spade at a distance of 2 to 24 feet, from the trunk. The tap-root should be cut off to a length of about 24 feet, if the soil in the Orange grove is deep. Ifa marly or clay subsoil or rock ap- proaches the surface, the tap roots should be cut off close up to the roots. which branch away from it. Any broken roots should be cut away and the ends trimmed. ‘Tar should be applied to all the larger cuts. The roots should be shaded from sun and dry air, and be kept moist. whilst out of the ground. Cutting top of stump.—The stumps are to be sawn off to 3 feet from — the ground. Great care should be taken to cut them quite smooth. It. is well to have the cut made sloping and on the north side. The wood and bark must not show any signs of separation, but be cut round smoothly with a sharp knife. If any space be left between the bark and the wood, water will settle, decay will commence, and very soon insects and fungi will begin their attacks. A little tar should be smeared on the cut surface. Holes.—The holes in which the transplants are to be placed should. be about 5 feet wide, and 10 or 12 inches deep with a deeper hole in ~ . | 123 the centre for the tap root. Itis very important that allowance be made for the fact that the Orange tree isa surface feeder, and not plant too deep It is better to have the tree 2 inches higher in the new bed, a(ter settling, than one inch lower, than it was originally. If the roots are too low, it may take years before it forms sufficient new roots near the surface to provide for the health of the tree. If the weather is dry, the ground must be kept moist for some time, and a mulching of an inch or two of manure is useful, especially just over the ends of the roots. A banana leaf may be struck into the ground on the south side to shade the trunk.. On treatment after budding trees.—It is advantageous to allow a few shoots to g/ow on the old stump but only below the buds, until the buds have grown to a proper size with enough leaves to provide for the wants of the tree. but the old shoots must be kept pinched back with only sufficient full-sized leaves and so as not to be higher than the buds, and they should be pulled off altogether as soon as the new shoots are ample. When the buds have grown 10 or 12 inches, pinch them back by taking off the terminal bud and this process is to be repeated occasion- ally in order to make the shoot thicker rather than long, to mature the wood and leaves, and to cause branching near the stock. ‘The method of budding has already been described in the Bulletin for December, 1895, and need not be repeated. GRAPES FOR THE UNITED SATES MARKET. The following has been received on the price of Grapes in New York from Messrs. Gillespie Bros. & Co. :— We beg to lay before you the following regarding English (or Hot- house) Grapes. These are saleable here during the winter months, the price depending considerably on the condition in which they are re- ceived here, as high as $2.00 per pound being paid for the sound, and their least value would probably be $1.00 per pound. They should be packed in baskets of about ten pounds each, well protected against ‘‘ bruising” by introducing between and around each cluster excelsior or other local substitute. To ensure their arriving here sound, it will be necessary to have them brought on in the ships’ refrigerator. The duty here is 200/0 on invoice value. Native grapes (grown in U.S.,) are expected to come to market in ay, however, if you have any fit for shipment at present we would Tecommend that you send on one basket of about 10 lbs. in order that buyers might get a chance to judge of the Jamaica article which at present is comparatively unknown here, and we ourselves would then be better in a position to offer fitting suggestions as to future shipments sof these from your Island. 124 NOTES ON COTTON. Soil.Light and sandy soils are better than such as are heavy and clayey, and those which are moderately moist than those which are very dry or very wet. Free drainage is essential, and irrigation is — necessary when the rainfall is small. The soil must be of good depth on account of the long tap root. It should not be too rich, otherwise the plants will run to stalk and leaf, and the flowers drop without forming seed. The cotton plant will flourish on inferior soils, where other plants will not grow. In Georgia the soil is described as a dry whitish sand, forming the «« Pine-barrens,” and yet it is so suitable to the growth of cotton that 3, 4, and sometimes 5 crops may be harvested without manuring. Tillage.—In the States, where cotton has been cultivated with greatest success, the ground is thoroughly prepared by ploughing as deep as from 12 to 18 inches. If the ground has lain fallow for some time, the ploughing is done three times with a considerable time in- tervening between the ploughings, and if the ground is full of weeds, it is ploughed even oftener. Even if the land is well pulverised and free of weeds, two ploughings are coasidered necessary. A harrow or roller is used after every ploughing. The preparation of the ground is com- menced in November, and continued until March or April when the seed is sown | Seed.—Care should be taken that the seed is all of one variety, other- wise the crops may not be of equal value, norcome in all at the same time. Sowing Seed.—The land is laid off in ridges 5 to 8 feet apart, and thoroughly hoed, all the weeds end grass being placed in the furrows between the ridges. A plough is then run along the ridges, throwing the soil on either side, and covering up the weeds, thus making the furrows into beds in which to sow the seed As soon as the plough has passed, the beds are levelled. Holes are made 18 inches apart, a foot wide, and 18 inches deep, and filled in again. About 12 seeds are sown where each hole has been made, at equal distances apart, and covered lightly with mould to the depth of about an inch. Selection of Seedlings.—After about a month when the seedlings are 3 or 4 inches out of the ground, pull up all but 3 or 4 of the strongest plants. Weeding must now be done and renewed every month. Some consider it necessary to weed by hand, others by hoes, others again by cultivators. If weeding is not carefully attended to, the crop will be seriously injured, perhaps altogether lost. At the end of the third month, or earlier if the growth has been vigorous. all the young plants should be pulled up except the one which appears to be the strongest, or is nearest to the centre of the hole Nurseries.—The seed is sometimes sown in nurseries by which means the attacks of caterpillers are warded off more efficiently, and irrigation in dry weather may be attended to. As an Annual.—In the United States cotton is cultivated as am annual, and sown every year although in the West Indies in former } days it was treated as a perennial. Planters in the United States con- | sider that it yields larger crops as an annual, and if the soil is likely to be of such a nature as to favour luxuriant growth and a perennial form, a crop of corn is first grown. — al ale 125 Pruning.—Even the annual plants may require some pruning if they show any tendency to produce wood and leaves at the expense of flowers and seeds. In such acase the tops should be nipped off when podding commences. If the plant is grown as a perennial, pruning is necessary, and this is done during the next month after the crop is gathered in April. It is usually considered advisable to prune down to about 4 feet, but much depends upon the soil. The crop of the perennial cotton begins to come in towards the end of September, and lasts till the end of December. A second crop lasts fiom the end of February until the middle of April. Manures.—As the cotton-plant is cultivated for the sake of the fibre which envelopes the seeds, attention is directed to the chemical enilysis of the seed which bears the fibre as well as to the fibre itself, in order to discover what substances these extract from the soii that have to be replaced. An analysis of the ash of cotton fibre shows that these ingredients. are :— Percentage. Potash 31°05 Lime 17°09 Phosphoric acid 12°32 in other words 10,000 lbs of cotton fibre abstract from the soil lbs. Potash Sl Lime 17 Phosphoric acid 12 An analysis of the ash of cotton-seed gives Percentage Potash 19°40 Lime ps baa Phosphoric acid 45.35 The seed is thus much more exhausting on the soil than the fibre or “lint,” and when its greater proportion is considered, it is probable that while for every bale of cotton, the lint takes 4 lbs of soil-ingredients, the seed takes 38 lbs. If, therefore, the seed after expression of the oil, is utilised as cattle- food, and returned to the ground in the form of manure, the crop will be one of the least exhausting known. On the contrary, if the seed is permanently removed, heavy manuring will be necessary to preserve the fertility of the soil. The best manures are superphosphate of lime (containing phosphoric acid and lime) and potash (either wood ashes or potash salts). Salt appears to be peculiarly beneficial, and good cotton lands are often low- lying, subject to the influx of tides, but in such a situation high ridg- ‘Ing is necessary. All refuse from the plant should be returned to the soil, either by being burnt and the ashes ploughed in, or by turning cattle in to feed itdown. Purning ensures destruction of eggs of hurtful insects or spores of destructive fungi. Guano and other nitrogenous manures should be avoided, as causing the plant to run too much to stem and leaf, 126 Harvesting.—In some varieties the cotton fibre adheres only slightly to the pod, and must be picked within a few days from the bursting of the pod, in those varieties in which the fibre adheres firmly, picking may be deferred longer according to the convenience of the planter. ‘Women and children pick the fibre and seeds from the pod as it hangs on the bush. To pick cotton carefully and expeditiously requires a good deal of practice. The fingers should grasp lightly the five sections comprising the ball, and withdraw at one pull the whole of the cotton without any particle of leaf or foreign matter adhering to it. Cotton should never be gathered while wet from rain or dew. The pickers put the cotton into bags tied round the waist, and when ~ these are full, they empty them on a good-sized “cotton-sheet” to dry whilst they refill their bags. When the sheet is full, it is carried to the weighing house. An average picker will collect 100 lbs of seed cotton in a day. After the pickers have been through the whole field, it will be 4 or 5 days, and possibly 10 days before more pods are ripe, but cureful watch must be kept so as to set the pickers to work immediately on the ripen- ing of the pods. Drying.—As soon as the cotton is gathered, it is exposed to the su on wooden platforms for 3 days until the fibre is quite dry and the seed® are hardened. It is not put out until the sunis up, and is taken in be~ fore sunset. If the weather be wet, it is kept under cover, and spread out in thin layers. The great object is to get rid of any superfluous moisture it may con- tain, without drying it too much. When dry, it is carefully picked over to get rid of any foreign matter or discoloured particles of cotton. It is then piled in heaps, 5ft. high, 4 or 5ft broad, and 20ft long, and covered over with cloths. This is to preserve the oiliness, strength and gloss of the fibre, which a lengthened exposure to the air would destroy. The tendency to heat, however, must be guarded against, and whenever the cotton gets too warm, it should be spread out on the clean-swept floor of the cotton house untilit cools If the heating is allowed to go on, the oil oozes from the seeds, and discolours the cotton. But many planters allow the heaps to become very slightly heated, thinking that thereby the fibre extracts a very small portion of the oil from the seeds, becoming stronger, softer, and more silky, and at the same time acquir- ing a very delicate shade of yellow so much sought after by experienced buyers. Yield.—In the valley of the Mississippi the average yield of ginned cotton per acre is 400 lbs, whereas in South Carolina, Georgia, etc., 200lbs. is considered a good return, and much of the land yields only 100lbs. In India the average yield from native cultivation is 50 or 60lbs. Ginning.—The separation of the fibre from the seed is always done on the estate by machinery, called a gin. There are several kinds of gin, the Whitney, Macarthy, &c. A modification of the Macarthy and the double action knife-roller gin has lately been manufactured by Dobson & Barlow. One of these gins is capable of cleaning 300 to 800 lbs of seed cotton in an hour, yielding 75 to 150 lbs of clean cotton. 127 © The “lint”, when thoroughly cleaned, is packed in bales by hydrau~ ‘lic pressure for export. The bales are covered with coarse jute or cot~ ton canvas, and bound with ropes or iron bands. Cotton-seed otI—The expression and utilisation of this oil is a distinct ‘industry, but in India the seed is used rather asa cattle-food direct, than an oil-yielder. Egypt exports very large quantities of this seed to England. The seed requires cleaning before shipping, otherwise it heats and deteriorates on the voyage. In the United States there are a large number of oil-mills for working up cotton seed, and a good deal of the oilisexported. ‘The yield of oil varies with the season and the Aocality in which the seed is produced. One authority estimates that ‘100 Ibs. of seed yield 2 gallons of oil, 48 los of oil-cake, and 6 lbs. re- fuse fit for soap-making. The value of the oilin New York is stated vto be 18d. to 20d. a gallon. Cotton Oil-cake—The cake remaining after the expression of the oil is very valuable as a catfle-food and as a manure. Feeding cattle with the cake on the estate, and using the manure on the fields is the readiest method of returning to the soil the valuable ingredients extracted by the growth of the plant. But if the cake becomes heated or mildewed, it is not suitable for ‘food, but can be applied direct to the land. In this case the finer the cake is crushed or ground the better. Munro gives the average quantities of manurial ingredients in one ‘ton as below :— Phosphoric acid. Potash. Nitrogen. Brown or rough cotton cake 45lbs. 45lbs. 8d|bs. Decorticated cotton cake 70 A5 145 “QOil-cakes heat and decay fast and act quickly when ploughed into the soil. They are organic manures (more than nine-tenths of their weight consisting of organic matter), and contain no ready-formed am- monia ; but soon give rise to this by decomposition.” The value of oil-cake to feed cattle for the purposes of obtaining a rich nitrogenous manure, and also for the distinct purpise of fattening cattle, has been alluded to as follows in the introductory lecture of the Institute of Jamaica Lectures on Agriculture :— “In England cattle are often kept on a farm simply for the sake of the manure they produce, and it may be advantageous or even necessary to purchase fod for them over and above what the farm can provide. “In Jamaica, too, it might be found profitable to stall-feed cattle for the sake of the manure. In that case it would be necessary to care- fully consider not only the cost of various kinds of food, but also what kinds would yield, the best maxures. “ As nitrogen is the most costly ingredient of purchased manures, it follows that other things being equal, and looking at it from the point -of view of manure, the best food is that which contains the most nitro- gen. “ Chemicalanalysis shows that oil-cakes yield the richest manure ; next corn, peas and beans, and bran. Clover-hay yields a richer manure than corn, and corn a richer than meadow-hay. 128 “ The subject of manure led to the consideration of the best foods for- producing it in the most valuable form. “And from the inquiry into the best food for manure, it is natural to pass toa reference to investigations into food used for the purposes of nutrition generally. ' “The theory of nutrition is of some importance in breeding and rear- ig stock, and fattening cattle. Food has to be considered in two ways, first as regards its composition, secondly as regards its digestibility. ‘« In examining the composition of a food, determination is made of the percentage of albuminoids, or nitrogenous constituents which are flesh- firmes; of fat ; of the carbo-hydrates, such as starch and sugar, serving for the production of heat and mechanical work; and of the ash consti- tuents, such as lime- phosphates for the supply of bone-material, &c. “‘The composition of food has also to be considered according to the - time it is harvested ; for instance, when grass is cut for hay, it should be mown as soon as it flowers,—after that, it considerably deteriorates, for the soluble carbo-hydrates are changed into indigestible fibre. “‘ Again, luxuriant grass produced by irrigation contains more water~ than ordinary grass; it is therefore less nourishing, and a larger quan- tity is required. “The foods that are richest in albuminoids have the highest nourish- ing value, and therefore for fattening purposes the various descriptions - of oil-cakes are the best. Of the ordinary grasses, oats contain the most nitrogen, and corn (or maize) the least. All the grains are rich in an easily digested carbo-hydrate, namely starch. The grains are- poor in lime, and corn (or maize) does not even contain sufficient fora rapidly growing animal. ‘The digestibility of each kind of food has to be considered, and also. the influence of one food on the digestibility of another. The latter point is as important as the former. Forinstance, foods rich in starch, like mangels, cannot be given in greater proportion than 15 per cent of the fodder without l-ssening the digestibility of the fodder, whereas, a nitrogeneous focd like ol-cake may be given without interfering with its digestibility.” Fream gives the following average percentage of albuminoids in the- leading nitrogenous food employed in feeding farm animals :— Decorticated cotton cake ... =e 41 Linseed cake dis gas 25 Linseed a ‘iti 24 Beans , AK PJ Undecorticated cotton cake: a 19 Oats nee is i Corn (Maize) bt oe 10 Clover hay ey a 10 The following are average percentages of fat in certain food :— Linseed va de 34 Linseed cake ai as 1%: Decorticated cotton cake ... sie 104 Oats ‘ a 6 Undecorticated cotton whee! ine 5 Corn (Maize) iM - 5 129 Composition of average samples of cotton cake : Decorticated. Undecorticated. Moisture... bia 5s" PR ahs Oe 13.30 Oil i tie. URN fees 5.24 Albuminous compounds ... 44.19 23.17 Mucilage, sugar, digestible fibre, &e. . 20 42 32.27 Woody fibre (cellulose)... 4.88 20.79 Mineral matter (ash) ef 6.64 5.28 100.00 100.00 Containing nitrogen mt oe Od 3.71 “Note the high position occupied by oil-cakes, both as nitrogenous and as fatty foods. Inasmuch as albuminoids and fat are the most con- centrated of the constituents of animal food, it is evident that small quantities of oil-cake may be made valuable adjuncts to other less nu- tritious food. In other words, a little oil-cake—particularly decorticated cotton-cake and linseed-cakes goes a long way.” General Remarks—At the end of last century there were over 100 cotton works in Jamaica, but sugar was paying so well that cotton was gradually given up. There seems to be some prospect of the cultivation being taken up by small settlers and others in ‘lurks Island, and if it is likely to be a paying crop there, it might also pay to grow it again in Jamaica. It is interesting to note that the celebrated Sea Island was first grown from seed of the wild cotton imported into the States from Inagua one of the Bahama Islands. The United States Consul at Turks Island writing to the Director of Public Gardens in August 1892, stated: ‘‘ About a year ago I noticed that some of the soil here was very much like that at Edisto Island in South Carolina, and fancied that Sea Island cotton would thrive here. About October last I imported some of that seed and planted it, the re- sult was very favourable. In about six months the product was about 200 lbs. of the cleaned lint per acre, equal in quantity to the aver- age produced in South Carolina. There were no heavy rains following so that although the trees were in fairly good condition, there was no second crop during the year. I have no doubt that if there had been the usual rainfall in May, there would have been a second crop before the end of the twelve months nearly, if not quite equal to the first. Samples of this cotton were sent to New York. It was reported that this staple was slightly shorter than that of Sea Island cotton, but that mine was finer and of a better quality. « ENcIosuRE.—INacua Corton.” “ Regarding the samples sent us we have to say that the No. 2 native cotton looks as though it might be classed with our American cotton. The present value is about 7 to 8 cents.” SrA Istanp Corton. “The samples of No. 1, Sea Island cotton is not as long as our Sea Is- land, but it is very fine, the fibre being more silky in nature than ours which is anadvantage. Parties here cannot say that the cotton has degenerated any after planting in your soil with the exception of the length. The value of the sample here is from 12c. to 15c. and perhaps more.” 130 The cultivation of cotton in Egypt has increased rapidly. An inter- esting report upon the subject has been laid before the French Société Nationale d’Agriculture by M. de Vilmorin. In the report he says :— The regular cultivation of cotton does not date beyond the first half of this century, and a great impulse was given to it by Mehemet Ali when the various inland canals were cut to regulate and equalise the annual overflow of the Nile. In order to show his colleagues how rapidly the growth of cotton had increased, M de Vilmorin included in his report a table showing that the quantities exported to Liverpool had risen from 15,000 bales (of about 64 cwt. each) to 79,000 bales in 1850, 109,000 in 1860, to 220,000 in 1870, and to 240.000 in 1880. The cotton crop is, M. de Vilmorin adds, of an average annual value of about £10,000,000, -and it extends over an area of more than a million acres, with a tendency to extend each year. Nearly all the cotton grown in Egypt is cultivated -as an annual plant, being sown in March, and gathered in from Sep- tember to December. M. de Vilmorin goes on to point out that careful studies as to the best methods of cultivation, the most desirable varie- ties to grow, and the most effectual means of destroying the enemies of the cotton plant are being conducted, and that the more enlightened growers are beginning to use plenty of artificial manure. The Egyptian cottons are, in M. de Vilmorin’s opinion, merchandise sui generis, with- out any precise equivalent in the world, and likely to be in great re- quest among the manutacturers of cotton goods. Some of the seed of the best Egyptian cotton was obtained 3 or 4 years ago through the Egyptian Government. Major Pinnock experi- mented with this seed on his property near Kingston, and has kindly given the following Report on it: Major Pinnock to Director of Public Gardens. May, 1896. Dear Sir, I think I have some of the Egyptian seed left that you gave me, but Icannot advise anyone growing it, it has along silky sta- ple but the colour is too yellow. I took samples to England in 1894, of cotton grown by me from this seed, and samples of cotton growing wild on my pen, the latter, although inferior in length, quality and strength of staple, was avery white colour and worth $d per lb. more. I had the valuation of two well known Liverpool Cotton brokers, as also the opinions of several manufacturers, and all agreed that the colour of the cotton from the seed you gave me depreciated its value, and rendered it useless in many classes of manufactures. The following is a copy of the valuations I received on July 30th, 1894. ; Lot (a)—wild cotton —very good, colour and staple good but rather weak and brittle: value with seed as it is 1¢d per lb. in Liverpool, value. if ginned 44d per lb. [Some of the cotton in this sample I observed had not fully matured in consequence of its having been picked too soon and this would ac- count for its being weak and brittle. | Lot (e) —colour not good, staple very good: value with seed as it is 14d per lb., value if ginned 33d per lb. Yours truly, 7 A. H. Pinnock. 131 His Honour the Commissioner, Turks Island to Hon. Colonial Secretary. Grand Turk, 29th April, 1896. Sir, I have the honour to report that, as a result of my recent inspection of the Caicos Islands, it has struck me that some good may possibly be done for the people by inducing them to cultivate cotton, if only in a small way, in addition to the usual provision fields to which their atten- tion is at present entirely confined. 2. I noticed cotton growing, chiefly in a wild state, at every settlement I visited. At Lorimers, I came across one man who had been taking some little pains with the cultivation, and in his house I found several bags full of cotton, for which he was able to find a market at Cockburn Harbour. Four varieties of cotton were pointed out to me and were described as ‘‘ white cotton,” “ brown cotton,” ‘‘casimere” and “ sea- Island” respectively. The first is the ordinary cotton that one sees growing wild in these and other West India Islands; the second appears to be almost the same as the first, with a brownish tinge at the edge ; the “casimere” is a brown silky cotton, possiby the Egyptian variety ; and the ‘ sea-island” presumably the same as that grown in the Southern States of America. This man told me that he had some couple of “tasks” (a task is 105 feet square) planted out, and that, while the value fetched was small, yet it was sufficient to pay him for the comparatively little trouble he had in growing it. 3. I find that Mr. Stubbs, at Cockburn Harbour, has recently been laying himself out to buy cotton brought to him by the Caicos people on a barter system. Samples that he has forwarded to the States have been valued at 6 to 10 cents a pound; he allows from 24 to 3 cents with the seed. Mr. Stubbs told me that he contemplates setting up a small gin at Cockburn Harbour, if and so soon as he can fiud that there is a likelihood of the people bringing him in sufficieat cotton to justify the expense. 4. I spoke to the people in the different places, advising them to try cotton and pointing out particularly that it was work in which they could utilise the services of their children. They seemed to doubt the likelihood of their being able to obtain a certain market and quoted an experience of former years when they found the crop left on their hands. However they took in the idea and promised to think about it. 5. It is under these circumstances that I write to ask if you would be so good as to obtain from the Director of Public Gardens and Piantations any information that he thinks might be useful in regard to the times, method of planting and gathering, and as to the quality of cotton that would be most suitable for cultivation in such land as the Caicos affords. I would also ask whether he could obtain for the Government one or two bags of the best and most suitable cotton seed. { would then propose to distribute this seed by means of the Constables in warious localities, with a circular giving information as to planting, etc. 6. I know that in parts of the Bahamas cotton is grown and disposed 132 of on similar lines to those which I have described and to the mutual’ benefit of producer and purchaser, and it is just possible that a system of the same sort may be built up here. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, Epwarp J. CamMERon, Commissioner. Seed of Sea Island Cotton and other varieties can be obtained from. Messrs Peter Henderson, New York. RAMIE RIBBONS STRIPPED BY THE INDUS- TRIAL SCHOOL BOYS AT HOPE GARDENS. The following is the full statement of the work done by the boys at Hope Gardens in stripping Ramie ribbons mentioned in the Bulletin for last April, according tothe method described in the first paragraph quoted of Consul Hosie’s Report in Bulletin for March 1894, page 37. The scraping described in the second paragraph was not attempted. The experiment dated 13th Dec. was to ascertain whether they could work quicker, if the stems were cut and brought to them, than if they stripped from the stem actually growing. The total to the 11th was sent to Messrs. Dunlop with the result stated in April Bulletin. The wet ribbon amounted to 729 lbs. 14oz., and this took the boys 4334 hours to strip, which dried to weigh 132. Ibs. Week ending 16th Nov., 1895. Wednesday Thursday Friday Total 3 hrs. 3 hrs. 3 hrs. 9 hrs. lbs. 0z. lbs. oz. Ibs. 02. Ibs. oz. Jas. Murray ts 3 10 6 ‘f 12 9 Jno. Nathan Bil ie 2 6 5 9 9 5 R. Manley 1 14 2 0 3 0 6 14 Jos. Salmun | 2 3 2 9 & 12 S. Roden i Fa 3 4 8 9 8 C. U. Good 2 LovTO Zz 6 5 5 Jos. Samuels : ae 1 7 Weeding 2 9 Rich. Pircher 0 13 Weeding grass 23 (a2 3 9 Total 11 12 16 8 27 3 55 7 Ramie stripped during week ending 23rd November, 1895. Monday. Tuesday. Wed. Thurs. Friday Total. 2hours. 3hours. 3hours. 3hours. Rain. 11 hours. Ibs. ozs, 9 ‘Tbs. ‘om. “Ths; ozs." dba, 076. ° *... lbs. ozs. Jas. Murray 4 5 5 15 (cn: 9 10 27 #64 Jno. Nathan 5 12 6 66 5 2 fe vl 24 15 R. Manley 3 13 4 14 4 12 5 8 os 18 15 Jos. Salmon 3. 2 3 5 #£xWeeding 4 3 10 10 S. Roden 3 13 5 9 ee wa) 4 pa 22 1 Alex. Reid 2 2 £Weeding 4 4 4 7 10 13 Jos. Samuels 2 6 3 13 5:48 4 12 15 15 R, Percher , 2 3 3 5 £Weeding a 13 ae ae: C, N. Good . Weeding 4 5 3 6 Weeding ... (fee — 27 «68 37-8 35 (COO 45 2 ab) RAD ieee rr ™ OC OOOO OO! —Oh 133 Week ending 30th November, 1896. Monday. Tuesday. Wed. Thurs. Friday. Total. 2i hours. 2} hours. JLhour. 2 hours. 2} hours. 10} hours. —— lbs, ozs. lbs. ozs. Ibs. ozs. lbs. ozs. lbs. ozs. lbs. ozs. John Nathan . 5 14 5 10 4 10 Sie 6 $$ ae R. Manley 4 15 5 2 a 6 5 2 6 3 236i Jos. Salmon : 2 12 2 15 ru eo 2 83 3 13. IS,a8 S. Roden ‘ 5 14 5 10 2 12 426 4 8 233 1 A. Reid ; 3 15 3 14 1 15 5 ae A. LL Jie Jos. Samuel 2 10 So 7 Weelme 248 2 12. Woe C. Good E 2 14 2 12 4 2 Se 2D 105) Bowe Zack Crawford . 1 13 Weeding £3 2 ae ‘ 5 38 J. Murray . ae —— vs 6 ea, & S&S Ie) 8 DN 30 11 28 «6 16 2 36 3 38 10 150 0 Week ending 7th December, 1895. Monday Tuesday Wed. Thurs. Friday. Total. Shours. 3hours. 3 hours, 23 hours.3 hours. 14} hours. lbs. ozs. Ibs. ozs. Ibs. ozs. lbs. ozs. lbs. ozs. Ibs. ozs. John Nathan , ae 7.20 See ith. eeu'G:.. & 34 4 J. Murray 9 5 9 4 Oe ey ae ae aes Ss 2 R. Manley 6 10 7215 A By eR es re Oe 34 14 J. Salmon 4° 8§ 4.535 aia 4 TO oS 8 22 6 S. Roden F 5 10 hee Sra oo ES} a ss ae A. Reid a § eS «6 4 il 4 re 3 21 14 J. Samuels ‘s a «6 4 8 mote. & ie "4 OTS 23° i2 R. Percher aa ook ae. G 3 WW) BS 3 13; at Z. Crawford So 33 4° 9 Gane. Ss - 18... 4. G 21 8 ©. Good : nae & 6 i a eee Me 197-« 3 46 12 57 4 69 @ 49 12 48° 7. 261758 eee os Week ending 14th December, 1895. Monday Tuesday Wedy. Total. 23 hrs. 4 hrs. 3 hrs. 92 hrs. lbs. ozs. lbs. ozs lbs. ozs. lbs. ozs. James Murray 6 9 11 4 r AG 25 13 Jno. Nathan 5 5 eo | 6 7 21 (i R. Manley 5 0 _ — 5 0 Jos. Salmon ae Grad 44) 14 16 7 S. Roden 6 EE 4 6 8 14 19 15 Jos. Samuels 1 0 6 0 4 8 11 8 R. Purcher 2 6 7 8 4 2 14 0 & 2 — — 3 12 Z. Crawford oo H~ t i =P) _ bo Ss) =r) ~ bo | -_ a | bt a) 134 Fibre cut with knife Stripped from the and stripped root in 24 hrs. 23 hrs. lbs ozs. lbs. ozs. Jas. Murray 6 9 7 i3 Jno. Nathan : 5 5 5 2 R. Manley : 5 0 6 3 S. Roden A 6 ig "5 12 J. Salmon 3 10 4 10 R. Percher 2 6 3 10 Z. Crawford 3 12 3 13 33 53 36 15 Stripped from sticks Fibre stripped from ready cut in 3 hrs. the root in 3 hrs. Ibs. ozs. lbs. ozs. Jas. Murray : 441,25 90, 1p J. Nathan : 6 4 6 3 J. Salmon 4 14 4 14 J. Samuels 4 8 Oy. Lk R Percher 4 2 4 6 27 14 32 «12 DIRECTIONS FOR PLANTING RAMIE. By Wo. Crapwicx, Superintendent of Hope Gardens. Tue plants as sent from the Gardens are ready for planting without. further preparation. If the land is such that ploughs and cultivators can be used, thoroughly plough up the whole of the land, then form beds five feet wide, with walks between the beds eighteen inches wide, the beds can be any reasonable length but intervals should be left for the passage of carts, &c.; raise the beds by taking soil from the space left for the walks and throwing it on the beds. This will increase the depth of soil for the plants to grow in, and by lowering the walks make them serve as drains, the depth of which would be regulated by the rainfall of the district. If manual labour has to be utilised simply fork up the space to be used as the bed, leave the walks hard, but the top soil can be shovelled off and put on the beds in the same way, to form the walks and drains; it must be borne in mind that this is the best of the soik and will enrich the beds. The soil must be thoronghly pulverised, the plants can then be planted by opening a hole with the hand just deep enough to cover the plant about half-an-inch, not deeper; cover the plants lightly with the hand but do not press the soil or only very slightly, if the weather is dry; do not plant nearer the edge of the beds than six inches, put the plants in nine inches apart, or if on very rich soil a foot apart. Keep the young plants quite free from weeds by hand weeding. The- 135 plants put out at Hope a year ago treated as above, were weeded three times, and since then the Ramie has kept down the weeds itself except on the paths. Our reasons for planting in beds, clearing paths and intervals is to obviate the necessity of walking between the plants, and so trampling the soil round the roots, and making it hard and cakey, which from experience has been found to be very detrimental to the growth of the lant. In the beds planted at Hope a year ago the soil is almost as Pico and friable as it was on the day the beds were planted; and if the crop were taken off now the only thing requiring to be done is to hoe the paths, and perhaps pull out a few climbing weeds which no plants can keep down without assistance. By planting as close as above described the plants shoot up very rapidly with little or no tendency to branch. The above may seem rather troublesome but if the plants are treated in this way the growth will be more than satisfactory, and it will be many years before the plant requires replanting, but if carelessly dealt with, allowed to get weedy when young, trampled on or between, the plant will soon become enfeebled and the whole trouble of replanting will have to be gone through again in a short time. COFFEE PULPERS FOR SETTLERS. In the Bulletin for January, 1895, a description was given of two of Gordon’s hand coffee pulpers suitable for dealing with small quantities of coffee. An opportunity has lately presented itself of testing one of these pulpers, viz. the ‘‘Colombia” on a Coffee property, and the following report has kindly been furnished by Mr. B.S. Gosset, on the capa- bilities of the machine. An essential point in the working is a constant stream of water flowing into the water box. Mr. B. 8. Gosset to Director of Public Gardens. Farm Hill, Hagley Gap P.O. Dear Sir, I have tried the small Gordon’s Iron disc pulper you sent me, over here, and find it works well. The coffee is pulped very free from pieces of skin, and no Coffee was to be found among the pulp. . I have never seen cleaner work done with so little cutting of the erry. Ihave a Walker’s disc pulper, a Gordon’s patent Breast pulper, B- size, and a Jamaica “ Rattle Trap Pulper.” The only one which can turn out as clean work as the little Iron disc pulper is the large B- size Gordon’s Breast Pulper. Allthe English pulpers want to be fed by a constant flow of water from a pipe with a cock to regulate the feed,—a one inch pipe with cock of the same size would be needed for a pulper of this size. With a regular supply of water I estimate that this pulper would work off about 10 tubs of Coffee an hour weighing about 1,000 lbs., and could be worked by one man. Yours faithfully, B. S Gosser. an 136 KOLA NUTS. By Frep. B. Kitmer, Chemist, New Brunswick, U.S. A.* The kola nuts, as found in the American Market, come mainly from Africa. The bulk of the West India nuts are consumed by the inhabi- “tants of the islands where grown; a very small part of the crop is shipped to Europe. Lately, small supplies have reached our market from this -source. No accurate estimate of the extent of the world’s supply, nor the possible yield for this drug, can be given. The official reports of the African trade give from 2,500,000 to 3,000,0J0 pounds per year, which is largely utilised for home consumption. Those who are familiar with tropical products can realise the difficulties and peculiarities of the market in such a commodity. It is carried on mainly through: native women. There is acertain amount gathered for home demand. The ‘quantity that will reach the shipping ports must depend upon the ca- price of the natives, and especially as to how much they stand in need of rum or tobacco. The crop must all be carried, often hundreds of miles, in head loads, through miasmatic forests, over impassable streams, across pathless mountains, under a tropicalsun. The conditions are such that, to gather a ton of nuts and safely land them on a ship that plies along Africa’s sunny shores, is a task that one would shrink from after a survey of the field. The native gatherers are shrewd dealers, even if not well;skilled in the arts of civilised commerce. They know how to corner supplies, to create a rise in price, and they also know that, when -a European buyer wants the nuts badly, grades that have no value at home will finda ready market. ‘This accounts, in p:rt, for the quite variable nature of market specimens. In the West Indies, the govern- ments encourage the cultivation of the plant, and, before many years, ample supplies from this source will be obtainable. In our own country, some attention and discussion has taken place, looking towards its cultivation on our soil. The kola plant seems to grow well in any climate where there is plenty of rainfall and a warm, tropical sun. Of course, the hotter and more moist the climate, the better. Wherever bananas, nutmegs or cocoa will grow, it is safe to say that this tree will thrive. The best kind of soil is that which is deep, rich and clayey, although it will grow in a great variety of soils. In some of the West Indian Islands, it may be found as high as 5,000 feet above the sea level, but the best specimens are generally found at about 1,000 to 2,000 feet elevation. If the situation is low and damp, the gound must be well drained. ‘The young plants may be obtained directly from the seed, planted in the field where they are to grow : but the best results seem to come from planting the seeds in nursery beds, transplanting them when plants are from 2 to3 feet in height. ‘lhe seeds as usually obtained from growers are packed for ship- ment in boxes covered with earth, and the whole wet with fresh water. Holes are bored in the boxes for ventilation. ‘The nursery beds in which they are planted are made of loam, peat or leaf mould and kept shaded. In nursery planting the seeds are put in the bamboo pots com- monly used in the tropics, and placed from 9 to 12 inches apart It * Abstract by the author of a lecture delivered at the Pnar.naceutical Meet.ug of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, January, 1895. 187 takes three to five weeks before the sprouts appear above the ground. When ready for transplanting, they are set a distance of about 25 feet apart. If the soil into which they are transplanted is not rich, the best planters dig holes several feet deep, 5 feet each way around, and fill in with the topsoil. It is necessary for the young plant to have shade. Many intelligent planters, who have lately taken up the planting of kola, use the banana for the purpose. The banana is very rapidgrow- ing. It shelters the young kola plant and makes a profitable crop while the kola is coming into bearing ; kola, in turn, will begin to yield by the time the banana has exhausted the soil. The bananas are planted 10. 11 or 12 feet apart, with the kola at every second banana in the di- rection of the line. Thus, a plot of 20 feet square is enclosed with ba- nana trees with four kola plants at the corners, leaving the kola from 20 to 34 feet apart. In sheltered situations, as in a low valley between hills that have a growth of woods, the banana is omitted in the entre of the square, to give more light and air. The gradual thinning out of the banana is made as the kola acquires increased growth. Kola is usually planted at the beginning of the wet season. Grown wild, it com- mences to yield fruit about the fifth or sixth year. Well-cultivated spe- cimens often begin to bear considerably earlier. In the wild state they reach full bearing in the ninth or tenth year. When the kola tree at- tains full size, it is customary with planters to place in the field with them small varieties of coffee, or some vegetable plants such as peas or yams. Kola gives the necessary shade. The stems and leaves of the other plants furnish a good fertiliser. By this method a kola plantation costs nothing except for the first planting. Kola does not appear to ex- haust the soil as does the coffee, banana, orange, etc. Upon once attain- ing its growth it appears to be of permanent value. Specimens that have borne for fifty years and probably longer have been noted. Indepen- dent of its value for the nuts, kola is an excellent shade and timber tree, and is utilised for this purpose. A conservative estimate of the yield is 120 pounds of dried nuts, or over 250 pounds of green nuts per tree, or from 8,000 to 10,000 pounds per acre. No such amounts, how- ever, are gathered in any portion of the West India Island sowing to the unsystematic and haphazard measures employed in harvesting the crop. Taking up that part of the plant probably of the greatest interest, the seed or nut, we may examine the pods, which we will find contain from two to twelve nuts or seeds, so closely pressed together in growing as to be crowded into various shapes. The cellular tissue of the pod before drying is filled with a very slimy, stringy mucilage that is largely observed upon ripening. A singular fact noticed about the seeds is the fact that red and white nuts are found side by side in the same pod. So far as my observation goes, pods may be found that contain all red or all white, but no trees give all white or all red seeds. The native users lay great stress upon the difference between the white and the red kola nuts. Symbolically, the white nuts means peace, happiness, veneration, aequiescence to overtures. The red nuts mean the reverse : war, ill-will, challenge, rejection of overtures, etc. In some instances the white seeds command the higher price, being in re- pute as giving greater and better effects. In the dried nuts found in our market it is difficult to distinguish between the white and red varieties. Oxidation during the drying of the seeds gives to both about the same a 138 yellow-brown colour. When subjected to the action of solvents, white or red nuts (dried) yield to water, alcohol, acetone or glacial acetic acid, shades of orange and yellow which are so nearly alike that considerable practice is necessary to distinguish between them. ‘The colouring mat- ter of the red nuts is, however, very soluble in dilute mineral acids The white and red varieties may be distinguished by macerating for twenty-four hours in dilute sulphur.c or hydrochloric acid when it will be found that the acid extraction of the red kola is a beautiful red r se, while that of the white seeds is of a light straw colour. Heckel has shown that if the acid extraction is made alkaline with ammonia, that from red nuts assumes a purplish violet ; that from white an ochre-like colour. Several observers have noted that the red nuts give a larger percen- tage of moisture ; Heckel gives 46 per cent for white, 56 per cent for red. The same author claims that the white seeds, contain 5 per cent. more caffeine, 7 per cent. more of the peculiar principle, kolanin, than the red. My own experiments tend to confirm the observation that there is an appreciable difference in the amount of glucoside found in the white seed as against that found in the red. RULES AS TO SALE OF LANDS BY THE GOVERN- MENT OF JAMAICA TO SMALL SETTLERS. 1. No more than 50 acres will be granted to one purchaser, nor less than 9 acres. 2. The price at which the lands will be sold may be learnt at the office of the Surveyor General, or from the Bailiffs in chargo of the different parcels. No land will be sold for less than 5/ per acre and the ruling price will be the same as that at which lands in the neigh- bourhood are put in the market. 3. The Surveyor General on receipt by him of an application in the form endorsed hereon and on deposit of one-fifth of the price of the lands shall cause a survey to be made of the quantity of land applied for, the applicant receivng notice of the time where the survey is to be made. 4, On the survey being made the applicant shall forthwith be en- titled to possession of the land allotted to him on such survey. | 5. If the applicant shall be dissatisfied with the situation, or con- figuration of the land allotted to him on such survey, and shall within one week after the survey give written notice thereof to the Surveyor General or to the Surveyor who made the survey, or to the Bailiff in charge of the land, and shall deliver up possession of the land, he shall be entitled to a refund of one-half of the amount deposited by him as above and his application shall be deemed to be withdrawn. 6. If such notice shall not be given, or possession delivered, the applicant shall at the end of one week after the survey be deemed to be the purchaser of and to be in possession of the land allotted to him on such survey, and as soon thereafter as practicable a certificate shall be delivered to him by the Surveyor General, who shall keep a duplicate of such certificate in his office. 139 7. Such certificate shall be in the form following :— SaLE oF GOVERNMENT Lanps To Smart SETTLERS. Jamaica 8s. Office of Surveyor General, Kingston. This is to certify that of the Parish of Yeoman (hereinafter called the purchaser) did on the day of 189 , pay the sum of £ , being one-fifth of the purchase money of £ ‘in respect of acres of land part of in the Parish of and that the situation and configuration of the said acres are as shown by survey thereof made by on the day of 189 , which can be seen on application at the office of the Surveyor General in Kingston. The land comprised in this certificate is held subject to the follow- ing conditions :— (1.)—The remaining four-fifths of the purchase money and £2 being the cost of survey together amounting to £ , are payable in ten years by ten equal yearly instalments of £ each without interest, the first of such instalments being pay- able on the day of 189 , and the subsequent instalments at intervals of one year thereafter, provided that if within such period of ten years the purchaser shall have brought one-fifth of his acreage into good bearing in one of the crops mentioned in clause 4 of these conditions, he shall be released from payment of or be refunded, as the case may require, one-fifth of the purchase money. (2.)—Such payments shall be made to the Collector of Taxes for the said Parish of , and the receipt for each payment must be endorsed on this certificate which must be produced to the Collector of Taxes at the time of payment. (3.)—The balance of the purchase money and costs of survey may however be paid in advance at any time and the Col- lector of Taxes is authorised to receive such payments when- ever tendered. (4.) The purchaser shall within six months from the date hereof build a house on the land comprised in this certificate, which house shall be occupied by him or by some person on his behalf. The purchaser shall also within 12 months from the date of his obtaining possession, plant at least one-fifth of the land in Kola, Coffee, Orange or other permanent crop produc- ing plants, to be approved by the Surveyor-General, in the manner in which such permanent crops are usually planted and shall maintain such permanent crops by proper care and cultivation until such time as the purchase money due to the Government has been paid. (5.)—If the purchaser shall at any time be in arrear in respect of payment of three yearly instalments on account of purchase money and costs of survey, (or if the purchaser shall fail to satisfy any of the conditions laid down in the preceding paragraph the Surveyor General on behalf of the Government may ;give a notice calling on the purchaser or person in 140 possession either to pay the arrears due or to remedy the the default complained of, as the case may be. (6.)—Such notice shall be served either by being delivered to the purchaser or person in possession of the land, or by being affixed to some tree, or posted on some other conspicuous part of the land. (7.)—If at the expiration of one month from the service of such notice the requirements of same have not been complied with, the Surveyor Generel may by himself, or some person appointed by him, enter into possession of the land and may either before or after such entry sell the same at public auction or private contract as he may deem fit and either on conditions similar to those contained in this certificate or otherwise. The proceeds of such sale after payment of all expenses shall be applied in paying to the Gevernment the balance of purchase money and costs of survey remaining unpaid at the time of such sale, a alien the same shall be in arrear or not, any surplus when realised, being payable to the purchaser or other person entitled thereto. (8.)—On payment of the purchase money and costs of survey in full (and on fulfilment of the 4th condition hereof) the ~ purchaser or other person entitled thereto will receive from the Crown a conveyance or patent in fee simple in the usual form and withthe usual reservations including a reservation to the Government of the right to make new roads or improve existing roads, the Government paying the cost of any damage actually done to fruit trees, growing crops and cultivated ground in making or improving such roads (9.)—No transfer of or dealing with the rights of the purchaser in the land comprised in this certificate shall be effectual until written notice thereof shall have been given to the Surveyor General duly authenticated to his satisfaction. Dated this day ot 189 Surveyor General. 8. Condition 4 in the above certificate and the words included in brackets in conditions 5 and 8 may at the option of the Surveyor General be omitted in the case of any lots of land the purchaser of which resides within one-half mile of such lot. Such omission must be certi- fled by the initials of the Surveyor General in the margin of the certifi- cate. SALE OF GOVERNMENT LANDs To SETTLERS. Application. iy of the Parish of do hereby apply to become the purchaser of acres of land, part of in the Parish of for the sum of £ . And I herewith deposit with the Surveyor General the Sum of £ , being one-fifth of the price of the said land and agree to be bound by and to conform to the within rules in respect of my purchase. Dated this day of 189 The patents of James and George Fullerton and John Pritchard to- gether containing 900 acres in the Parish of Trelawny are offered for 141 sale on the above terms. These lands are situated in the black grounds of the Parish of Trelawny and front on the Main Road leading from Christiana to Ulster Sping. It is proposed to construct a Cart Road starting from the Main Road, and leading through those lands into the Parish of St. Ann. Each lot offered for sale will front either on the resent Main Road or on the new Cart Road. It is proposed to estab- fish a Model Farm either on, or in the immediate vicinity of these lands. A plan of the Lots and proposed Road may be seen at the Surveyor General’s Office. Lots fronting on the present Main Ro d will be sold at from £3 to £4 per acre. Lots fronting on new Cart Road wil be sold at from £1 to £2 per acre. These lands may be seen on applica- tion to A. A. Carter, Govt. Bailiff, Troy, Balaclava P.O. Copies of the Rules may be obtained from the Bailiff or from the Surveyor General’s Office, As soon as not less than 10 applicants come forward and pay their deposit money surveys will be made of their various lots, but no survey will be undertaken for a single applicant. FERNS: SYNOPTICAL LIST XXXVIL. Synoptical List, with descriptions, of the Ferns and Fern-Allies of Ja- maica. By G. S. JeNMAN, Superintendent Botanical Gardens, Demerara. 33. Nephrodium strigosum, Jenm.——Rootstock small, scaly, fibrous ; stipites very short or membraned to the base, puberulous ; fronds freely tufted, 3-15i:, 1. 4-14 in. w. tapering downwards to the rootstock, of two kinds, - barren and fertile; the latter elongate-lanceolate stiffly erect and viviparous at the retuse apex, the latter ligulate acuminate reduced forming a prostrate spreading rosette at the base of the former, both serrate-lobate, coriiceous, harsh, dark green, under surface on ribs and veins grey puberulous ; lobes deltoid or rounded or obtusely pointed shallowly or deeply cut, 1-24 li, w., 14-6 or 8 li. d. very close, veins pin- nate, raised and obtrusive beneath simple or rarely forked, the opposite ones below the acutely sharp sinus united, those above free; sori medial ; involucres distinct, co:date puberulous —Ffée. Fil. Ant. tab. 15. fig. 1. In woods of the lower hill sides, yathered in the western parishes Fee’s figure is a quite exact representation of the erect fertile fronds but does not show the spreading prostrate, rosette-like diminuated bar- ren ones. 34, N. incisum, Baker.—Rootstock erect, fibrous; stipites tufted, erect, 1-3 in. 1. the base a little scaly ; fronds erect. lobed or subpinna- tifid, a span to 1 ft. 1. 14--13 in tapering at the base through dwin- dling decurrent rounded scallop-like lobes, and similarly upwards to the acuminate lobate-e:.tire apex, subcoriaceous, dull green, naked or the rachis puberulous cut 4-} way down to the rachis, the incisions forming a sharp sinus between ; lobes 3-4 li. w. and 1. obtuse or rounded ; veins pinnate, simple or forked, opposite ones below the sinus uniting, those above free; sori medial involucres cordate, fugacious —Vl. Fil. t. 91. NV. stenopteris, Hook, Aspidium, Kze. Po ypodium, Swartz. This I have not seen, but it is ascribed to Jamaica by Grisebach on the authority of a specimen gathered by Macfayden, which I suspoct belongs to the next species, though he quotes Plumier’s figure, the two 142 though very distinct being generally confounded in descriptions. — Plumier’s figure resembles closely some of the forms of N. scolopendri- oides, Hook, on which perhaps it is based. . 35. N. Wrightii, Hook.—Rootstock thick as a quill, much elongated densely clothed with dark brown scales ; stipites apart but contiguous, erect, 4-8 in. l., strong grayish puberulous; fronds linear-oblong 8-12 in. ]. 3-13 in. b. generally a little narrowed at the base, chartaceous ; under surface puberulous on the ribs, upper glabrous, dull green ; fully pinnate in the lower half or third, the pinnz close or apart, the upper part pinnatifid, apex pointed, subentire ; pinnez horizontal, rounded 3-4 li; w. 4-14 in. 1. the lower ones free at the base and somewhat auricled on each side, the rest adnate and entire; rachis stiff densely puberulous pubescent, gray close, at a wide angle ; veins free or the lowest meeting at the sinus in the upper pinnatifid portion; sori medial or rather nearer the margin ; involucres evident.—Sp. Fil. t. 239. Infrequent on open mountain banks Nearly allied to scolopendri- oides, but of a more regular or equal width upwards, and marked parti- cularly by the lower part being uniformly fully pinnate and the upper deeply pinnatifid, so that the veins do not form costal areolz, and by the different rootstock. The p'ant cited above is a good figure of it.—Cuba. 36 NV. scolopendrioides. Hook.—Stipites densely tufted froma small erect or decumbent. scaly fibrous rootstock, L-6 in. 1., puberulous, scaly at the base and after deciduously fibrillose upwards ; fronds 6-12 in 1. 1-2 in, w. lanceolate or oblong or linear-lanceolate, acuminate or obtuse at the apex, the base reduced and usually fully pinnate, above this lobed or deeply pinnatifid, subcoriaceous dark green above, paler beneath ; upper surface glabrous, rachis costz and veins beneath densely greyish stellito-puberu- lous ; segments variable. close, or apart with a narrow or broad rounded sinus between 2-4 |. b. 1-2 in.1, blunt and rounded or subacute; the reduced lower ones distant, deltoid or oblong and rounded auricled‘on both sides at the base. quite free, subcordate sessile ; mar gins entire even or crenate; veins pinnate and simple in the outer part of the segments, once or more forked within. the branches more or less anastomosing, forming costal areola. the lowest pair from opposite ribs uniting and sending a limb to the sinus, where the next pair meet ; sori copious uni-or pluri-serial on each side the midrib; involucres small, ciliate—Hook, Fil. Exot. t. 18., Aspidium, Mett., Polypodiwm, I. Hook, Sp. t. 239. a. var. extensum.—Stipites 6-10 in. 1. slender; fronds 15-20 in. 1. 2- 24 in. w. cut as in the type; the margins even; sori 1-2-serial. b. var. littorale-—Fronds much broader, 10-15 in. 1. 2-3 im. w ; seg- ments acute or acuminate, longest 14-1 in. 1.4 4rd. in. w. even, crenate or lobulate ; veins pinnate in the crenatures or lobules, the lowest op- posite ones connected ; sori in one to several series. Plentiful on the rocky cliffs of the sea coast along the northern and eastern parts of the island. A highly variable plant, presenting three or more states which look distinct, but run one into the other. The barren fronds are on short stems, are often only slightly lobed, and are prostrate ; while the fertile are more erect, much longer, on long stems, with distant reduced free basal pinnz, which pass upwards tnto larger and more contiguous confluent ones with a costal wing and narrow or open rounded sinuses, the top of the frond becoming gradually merely lobed. The barren fronds are viviparous near the apex. Forms of this 143 are often mistaken for forms of asplenioides, resembles Plum. Fil. t. 84 very closely but is not winged in the lower half as that is represented. 35. NV. tenebricum, Jenm.—Stipites 4-8 in. 1., erect grayish-puberu- lous ; fronds 1-1} ft. 1. 4-6 in. w., gradually reduced both up and down, the acuminate apex pinnatifid, and passing through blunt lobes into the entire points ; chartaceous, pellucid. dull grayish or brownish green, pu- berulous on the ribs, otherwise glabrous; rachis grayish puberulous ; pinns numerous, spreading. with an open space between them, the central horizontal, and 24-3 in. 1. by 4-4 in. oblong lanceolate and acuminate. obtuse pointed, sessile, and hastate with a pair of enlarged horizontal lobes at the base, above this serrulate or slightly lobed the outer part entire, the inferior ones (which dwindle gradually in the lower third or fourth of the frond to mere auricles at the base) being more distant and deflexed ; veins 2-4 to a side, the lowest opposite ones uniting in a branch to the sinus, where the next usually join; sori near the base of the veins ; involucres minute ; soon obliterated. - Journ. Kot. 1882, 326. St. Ann and Clarendon Parishes Well distinguished by the gradual dwindling of the fronds downwards in the lower half the subentire and bluntish, though acuminated pinne hastate at the base with a pair of spreading auricles, one on each side, resembling Polypodium hastefolium on an enlarged scale. The lowest pinne are only 4 inch Jong —Endemice. CASTLETON GARDENS. Visitors to the Gardens may expect to see the following plants in flower or fruit during the month of July :— In FLOWER. In Frvit. Andira inermis, H. B. & K. Czesalpinia Sappan, Linn. Averrhoa Bilimbi, Linn. Carapa guianensis, Aubl. Bassia latifolia, Koxb. Cocos botryophora, Mart. Bauhinia variegata, Linn. Eugenia caryophyllata, Thunb. Brownea Rosa-de-monte, Berg. Engenia malaccensis, Linn. Calophyllum Calaba, Jacq. Gmelina asiatica, Linn. Caryocar nuciferum, Linn. Heritiera macrophylla, Wall. Cassia siamea, Lam. Imbricaria maxima, Poir. Castilloa elastica, Cerv. Mi helia Champaca, Linn. Clerodendron macrosiphon, Hook. f. Omphalea triandra, Linn. Coccoloba latifolia, Lam. Pachira aquatica, Aubl. Cocos botryophora, Mart. Pachira Barrigon, Seem. Cordia alba, Roem et Schult Pterocarpus indicus, Willd. Cynometra americana, Vog Terminalia Arjuna, Bedd. Dipteryx odorata, Willd. Heritiera macrophylla, Wall, Hyophorbe Verschaffelti, H. Wendl. Lagerstroemia Flos-reginz, Retz. Michelia Champaca, Linn. Mimusops Elengi, Linn. Myroxylon toluiferum, H. B. & K. Nerium Oleander, Linn. Norantea guianensis, Aubl. Omphalea triandra, Linn. Oreodoxa regia, H. B. & K. Pachira aquatica, Aubl. Pteroacrpus Draco, Linn. Pterospermum lancezfolium, Roxb. Semecarpus Anacardium, Linn. f. Sterculia carthaginensis, Cav. Stevensonia grandifolia, F. Dunc. 144 CONTRIBUTIONS TO. THE DEPARTMENT. Lriprary. The Flora of British India. Part XXI by Sir J. D. Hooker. [Kew.] Hooker’s Icones Plantarum, Vol V. Part III. [Bentham Trustees through Kew. | Report Bot. Gardens, Trinidad for 1895. [Supt.] Report Bot. Gardens, Grenada for1895 [Curator. | Report Botanic Station, Dominica, 1895. [Curator.] Repert Botanic Station, Barbados 1895. [Supt.] Report Botanic Gardens, Straits Settlements. 1895. [Director.] Bulletin [Imperial University of Japan Vol. Il. Nos. 1 - 6 [Dr.: Oscar Loew, Prof. of Agri. Chemistry. ] Bulletin Torrey Bot. Club. No.4 April 1896. [Editor.] Bulletin Bot. Garden Trinidad. No.6. April 1896. [Supt.] Bulletin New York Agri. Exp. Station. Nos. 96 &97. Decr. 1895. [ Director.] Bulletin U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Nos. 8 & 281896. [Dept. of Agri.] Bulletin de L’ Herbier Boissier No. 3. March 1896. [Conservateur. ] Revue Agricole. Nos.3 &4. March & April, 1896. [Editor ] Agri. Gazette of N.S. Wales. Pt. 2. Feb. 1896. [Dept. of Agri. | Agri. Journal, Cape Colony. Nos.6-8. March & April 1896. [Dept. of Agri.] Experimental Station Record. Vol. VIL. No.6. [U.8S. Dept. of Agri. ] Agricultural Ledger. Nos. 11, 15, 23, 1895. [Supt. of Govt. Printing, India. ] Hawaiian Planter’s Monthly. No.4. April. 1895. (HEditor.] Produce World. Nos. 27-30. April & May 1896. [Hditor.] British Trade Journal. No. 401. May 1896. [Editor.] Sugar Journal, Queensland. No.2. March. 1896. [Editor.] Sugar Cane. No. 322. May 1896. [Editor.] Sugar. No.6. April 1896. [Hditor.] La Sucrerie Indigene et Coloniale. No. 18-20. May 1896. [Editor. | American Journal of Pharmacy. No.5. May, 1896. [Editor.| Montreal Pharmaceutical Journal. Nos- 1&2. April & May 1896. [Editor.) Chemist and Druggist. Nos. 834-839. April & May 1896. [Editor.] W. I. & Commercial Advertiser. April. 1896. [Edhtor. ] W. 1. Home Builder. March & April 1896. [Editor.] New Jersey Forester. No,3. May 1896. [Editor.] Botanical Gazetie. Nos.4 &5. April & May 1896. [Editor.] Minnesota Bot. Studies. Part VIII. April 1896. [State Botanist. | Science Gossip. Nos. 22-24. Dec. 1895 Feb. 1896. [ditor.] Proc. Agri -Horti. Society of Madras. Oct. Dec. 1895. ([Secy. ] Proc. Agri. Society, Trinidad. [Secy. ] Royal Horti. Society, Arrangements for 1896. [Secy.] Times of Ceylon. Nos. 16 &17. April 1896. [Editor.] Anales del Instituto Fisico-Geografico Nacional de Costa Rica. Tome, VI 1893, [ Director] Poisonous Principle of Urchites suberecta, by J. J. Bowrey. [Author.] Select extra-tropical Plants by Baron Sir F. von Miieller. [Hon. Premier, Victoria. | Systematic arrangement of Australian Fungi by D. McAlpine. [Hon. Premier Vic- toria. | SEEDS. From Royal Gardens, Kew. Pteroxylon utile Kunzea pomifera Haussmannia jucunda Ischemum angustifolium. From Messrs. Dammann & Co. Italy. From Botanic Gardens, Demerara. Pinus Laricio. Capsicume- mixed varieties. From Baron Sir F. von Miieller, Melbourne. Eucalyptus megacarpa Eucalyptus punctata “i Globulus Acacia Oswaldi us corynocalyx «« _brachybotrya ry pauciflora Atriplex nummularium EP calophylla “« semibaccatum From Botanic Gardens, Bangalore. From Royal Botanic Gardens Trinidad, Bauhinia Vahhi Phoenix rupicola. From Mr. Thomas H. Sharp, Spanish Town. Logwood, New Series. ] JULY, 1896. Vol. om Patt. (. BULLETIN oF THE - BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, JAMAICA. —_—_— — o-oo -o——_- --- EDITED BY WILLIAM FAWCETT, B.Sc., F.LS. Director of Public Gardens and Plantations. CONTENTS: Reproduction of Oranges by Seed - PAGE 145 Eucalyptus in California vs 149 Ramie in Jamaica - 149 Ramie in United States - 151 Alkaloids of Kola ~ 157 Forestry _ 159 Tobacco Seed for Distribution _ 160 Trap for Beetles ~ 161 _ _ Lignum Vitz = 161 Premiums for Cultivation 7 161 9 Ferns : Synoptical List—XXXVIII - 162 ia Castleton Gardens - 167 Contributions to the Department - 167 P RICE Threepence. A Copy will be supplied free to any Resident in Jamaica, who will send Name end Address to the Director of Public Gardens and Plantations, Gordon Town P.O. KINGSTON, JAMAICA: GoveRNMENT Printine Orrick, 79 Duxs Street. 1896. ss . ——. “+t * < e ee RAS SENE 2 eUe O Ae Ne etal it ere EES JAMAICA. BULLETIN OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT. Vol. III. New Series. | JULY, 1896. Paty. THE REPRODUCTION OF THE ORANGE FROM SEED. By Hersert J. WEBBER, Special Agent, United States Department of Agriculture, Subtropical Laboratory, Eustis, Florida. In the issue of the Gardeners’ Chronicle of April 25, 1896, I notice Mr. C. Wolley Dod suggests that it is generally believed by gardeners that Orange trees raised from the seed of a sweet Orange produce bitter fruit unless grafted on to the sweet Orange tree. As l am somewhat familiar with Orange-growing in Florida, having spent several years here in studying the industry, it may not be out of place for me to give some notes regarding this. Sweet OrancE (Cirrus AURANTIUM). The seed from the fruit of the sweet Orange, I think we may safely conclude, invariably produces sweet Oranges unless they are the results of hybridisation with some other species or variety. The evidence, how- ever, is somewhat conflicting. The experiments of Gallesio, published in 1811, seem to show conclusively that the belief that they produce bitter fruit, which Mr. Dod suggests is quite generally held by gardeners, is erroneous. In his Traité du Citrus, Gallesio says, ‘1 have during a long series of years sown pips of sweet Oranges, taken sometimes from the natural tree, and sometimes from Oranges grafted on bitter Orange trees or Lemon trees. The result has always been trees bearing sweet fruit, and the same has been observed for more than sixty years by all gardeners of Finale. There is no instance of a bitter Orange tree from seed of sweet Oranges, nor of a sweet Orange from the seed of bitter Oranges, . . . In 1709, the Orange trees of Finale, having beer killed by frost the practice of raising sweet Orange trees from seed was a and every one of these plants produced the sweet-juiced ee Macfadyen’s statement regarding the experience in Jamaica is, how- ever, in opposition to Gallesio. Macfayden says, ‘‘ It is a well estab- lished fact, familiar to everyone who has been any length of time in this island, that the seed of the sweet Orange very frequently grows up into a tree bearing the bitter fruit, numerous well-attested instances of 146 which have come tomy own knowledge I am not aware, however, that the eedof the bitter Orange hasever grown up into the sweet-fruited variety.” Duchassaing says that in Guadeloupe the sweet Oranges often yield bitter fruit, while according to Dr. Ernst, at Caracas they some- times yield sour but not bitter fruit. Brandis, who is considered one of the highest authorities on this subject, relates that at Khasia, in India, so far as he can verify the fact, the extensive plantations of sweet Oranges are from the seed. It is difficult to harmonise these conflicting statements. The very extensive experience of Orange growers in Florida, California, and Louisiana entirely corroborates Gallesio’s statement. In Florida for many years the policy has been extensively followed of growing trees from seeds of sweet Oranges. and in all cases known to the writer, sweet Oranges, usually of a very fair quality, have been produced. Indeed, the fruit of the sweet seedling Orange trees in Florida is of superior quality to the fruit commonly imported into the United States, and is well known in the markets of New York, Philadelphia, &c. Probably one-fourth of the Florida Orange groves, which in the season of 1894-95 yielded over one billion Oranges, are sweet seedling trees, It is so tho- roughly understood that seeds from sweet fruit produce sweet Oranges of a fair quality, that no grower has any hesitation to rear extensive groves from sweet seed trees. Since the severe freezes of the winter of 1894-95, which killed to the ground almost all of the trees in the State, many groves which were originally budded on sweet stock are being re- grown by allowing sprouts, which have been thrown up by the sweet seedling stock, to grow into trees without budding. This illus- trates how well it is known by Florida growers that sweet seedling Orange trees produce good sweet fruit. In Louisiana and California sweet seedling trees have also been grown to considerable extent, and always, so far as | can learn, with the same results that from seeds of sweet Oranges sweet fruit is produced. Mr. Wilham Fawcett, Director of the Jamaica Public Gardens, states that, ‘“‘ The evidence goes to show that Macfadyen’s experience was ex- ceptional in finding that the seeds of the sweet Orange sometimes pro- duced trees with bitterfruit . . . . The danger in planting seedlings of the sweet Orange appears to be small.”* Mr. Symealso says,t “‘ The popular opinion in Jamaica that the majority of the seeds of a sweet Orange will produce sour Orange plants is not quite well founded, though there need be little surprise felt if a goodly proportion of the trees are productive of sour fruits. It may be safely asserted that there are a few good sweet Orange trees in this island (Jamaica) so isolated from in- ferior varieties, sour-fruited Shaddock, Grape-fruit, Citron, Lemon. or Lime trees as to be beyond the influence of the fecundating pollen of the latter. It is inferentially chiefly to this influence, rather than to an inherent tendency in the tissue, that many seedlings, raised from sweet Orange seed, exhibit what may be termed degenerate or unmarketable fruits.” In the reports from the Consuls of the United States on fruit culture in their several districts, in answer to a circular from the Vepartment of * Bull. Bot. Department of Jamaica, No. 4, Nov., 1887. + Bull. Bot. Department of Jamaica, No. 42, April, 1893. 147 State, sweet Oranges are reported to be grown wholly or largely from -seeds in the following places : Morocco, Guerrero (Mexico), Ecuador, Ja- maica, Guadeloupe, Porto Rico, Syria, Sidon, Philippine Islands, Naples, Azores Islands, Spain, &c.* Far the greater portion of the evidence, it will be seen from the above discussion, supports the belief that seeds from sweet Oranges commonly produce sweet fruits. When bitter or sour fruits result from planting sweet Orange seeds it is probable that other seeds have been acci- dentally mixed with them or that they are the results of accidental hybridisation. Sweet Oranges are almost invariably grown near sour Oranges, Lemons, Limes, Pomelos, &c., and it is not greatly to be won- dered at that from seeds formed under such conditions a hybrid occa- sionally arises. Both Fawcett and Syme think this is what misled Mac- fadyen. Stubbs and Morgant also mention this as one of the main causes of the variation in the quantity of seedling Oranges. That perfectly fertile seeds may be obtained by hybridising the different spe- cies of Citrus I have incidentally proved in the course of pollination ex- periments which I have been conducting under the direction of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ‘The following instances may be cited :— Parson Navel Orange (a local variety of the common sweet Orange, Citrus aurantium), which is commonly seedless, crossed with pollen from the acid Lime (Citrus limetta), produced three full seeds, which were planted, and gave four seedlings, two embryos of one seed developing. St. Michael Blood Orange (Citrus aurantium), crossed with pollen of Grape-fruit or Pomelo (Citrus decumana), formed fifteen well. developed seeds, which were planted, and gave twenty-two seedlings. If seeds thus artificially hybridised are fertile, there is no reason to doubt that seeds accidentally hybridised may be fertile. In each of the above cases the number of seedlings resulting is in ex- cess of the number of seeds planted. ‘This introduces an interesting feature into experiments of this nature. It is a well-known fact that most species of citrus fruits produce several embryos, some seeds pro- ducing as many as twenty-five; only from one to three of thes2, how- ever, commonly develop. Criiger, Schacht, Hofmeister, Strasburger, and others have carefully studied this interesting polyembryonic de- velopment; and it appears, so far as we yet know, that only one of the embryos in each seed is formed by the act of fecundation, the others being what are termed adventive embryos developing from the side of the embryo sac. It is thus probable that only the sexually-developed embryo will be influenced by the hybridisation. As two to three embryos frequently develop from a seed, even in cases of hybridisation some of the seedlings, those from adventive embryos, will probably produce true to the parent bearing the fruit. While seedlings of the sweet Orange produce sweet fruit similar to those produced by the parent, there is yet much variation in the fruit from such seedlings. Commonly it can hardly be distinguished from the parent. but many are of much inferior quality, and occasionally one * Fruit Culture in Foreign Countries. Special Consular Reports, Washington + Stubbs and Morgan, The Orange and other Citrus Fruits from Seed to Market. Special Bulletin, Louisiana State Experiment Station, 1883, p. 12. 148 producing fruit superior to that of the parent tree may be found. This uncertainty in the quality of the fruit is what renders budding or graft- ing desirable in this industry as in others. There is, however, by no means so great a difference between the fruit of the common seedling and that of the best budded varieties as occurs in certain other fruits, such as the Pear and Apple. If sweet seedlings are to be grown, the seeds should be taken from selected seedling trees, known to produce good fruit, which are isolated from trees of other varieties and species. By such selection one would avoid the probability of obtaining seeds affected by crossing or hybridising with other varieties, and may be quite sure that the trees from such seeds will produce good fruit. The various improved varieties of the sweet Orange, such as the Hart’s. Late (Tardive), Jaffa, Majorca, Ruby, &c., cannot be depended upon to reproduce true through the seed. The policy of budding the trees to selected varieties cannot be too strongly recommended. BirrEeR or Sour ORANGE (CITRUS BIGARADIA). Whether the bitter or sour Orange be classed specifically with the sweet Orange, or is considered as a distinct species, the fact remains that the varieties in cultivation are totally distinct in foliage, fruit, and character of branching, from the sweet Orange, and that both are re- produced true through the seed. The seed of sour Oranges inva- riably produce sour fruit of the same general character. It is true the fruit of seedlings vary slightly im shape, size, taste, thickness of rind, &c., as in the case of sweet Oranges, but they are nevertheless distinct- ly sour Oranges. Gallesio says, “The sour Orange produces many seeds: which always reproduce sour Oranges.” The sour Orange was introduced into Florida very early, probably by the Spanish, and escaping from cultivation, spread over the central and southern portions of the State. When comparatively recently—about 1870—interest was awakened here in the Orange industry, extensive wild sour Orange groves were found in many places. One of these, at Citra, Florida, contained seme 500 acres. These wild groves have mostly been cut off and budded, so that now but few of the original trees can found. I havo examined a number of these old original trees, and have always found them to produce comparatively the same fruit. The fruit from these old wild trees, furthermore, does not noticeably differ, so far as I have been able to determine, from the fruit of numerous cultivated. sour Orange seedlings, cone or two of which are found in almost every grove in the State. As these seedlings scattered through the groves of. the State are unquestionably descendants from seeds of the wild sour Oranges found here, the identity of the fruit is significant in this con- nection. I have made some enquiry of pioneer Orange growers who cut off and budded many of the wild sour Orange trees, and have been. unable to learn of any marked difference having been observed in the ~ character of the fruit on different wild trees. Orange growers here in- variably feel sure of obtaining sour Oranges when sour Orange seed is planted.— Gardeners’ Chronicle, 149 THE EUCALYPTUS TREE IN CALIFORNIA. The Eucalyptus tree promises to become as useful in California as the ‘bamboo is in Japanand China. It has the advantage of requiring little or no attention and of growing with astonishing rapidity, and in the vast timberless regions it has been an important factor in improving the land. The wood has many medicinal qualities. The eucalyptus is also extensively used to form a windbreak about gardens and orchards. It has been found very profitable to raise the tree for fuel. Its remarkably rapid growth makes it possible to raise a crop or forest of these trees to a size suitable for cutting every three years. Within a year from the time the seed has been planted the tree often reaches a height of ten feet, and a height of fifty-three feet in three years. It is customary to cut the tree off about two feet from the ground, at intervals of from three to five years. The trees are then cut into cord wood. It is esti- mated that a single acre, if left untrimmed for eighteen years, would produce ten thousand dollars’ worth of wood. In Australia the wood of the eucalyptus tree is coming to be extensively used for manufacturing purposes, and it is probable that in time new important uses will be found for the wood wherever these trees are cultivated.—Produce W orld. RAMIE IN JAMAICA. Several thousand roots of Ramie have been distributed to various parts of the Island from the Public Gardens. Caution is however still necessary, and the following letter from Messrs. Dunlop shows that the question of machinery is not settled yet. Requests have occasionally been made that sufficient Ramie stems should be ready at a moment’s notice for any machine that may be brought forward to be tested, and a statement made that the stems from 5 to 10 acres would be required. No Government, not even that of India or the United States, has ever undertaken to test a machine whenever pro- duced. The Government of India has on two occasions given notice that they would hold a public trial at a certain time and under certain conditions. The Governments of France and the United States have done the same on former occasions, but the interest is now so general that apparently all these Governments consider that the matter may be left to the inventors of machines to demonstrate their capabilities in the same way as other inventors do. To have from 5 to 10 acres of stems always ready for one machine, would mean that from 250 to 500 acres should be permanently established. All that the Public Gardens can be reasonably expected to do, is to provide a sufficient number of plants to start the cultivation in different parts of the Island, and then eave it to private enterprise. Roots have lately been distributed to more than 60 centres. Messrs, Dunlop Bros. & Co., to Director of Public Gardens and Plantations, Jamaica. 15th June, 1896. Dear Sir, We beg to thank you most sincerely for your kindness in sending to 150 us a copy of the Bulletin of ‘the Botanical Department in Jamaica for April, 1896. This paper came to hand on the Ist inst., and we have read with great carefand interest all that is printed therein with regard to Rhea Fibre. We take this opportunity of thanking you for the kind way in which you have taken notice of what little we have been able to do in giving you, or the Public in general, what information we could concerning this article, and we now desire toadd a little more to the general information. Since we last wrote to you the demand for Rhea Fibre has considerably increased. Not so much in aspeculative manner as in a steady strong firm demand brought about by manufacturers in a large way of business who require constant supplies of the article to meet certain demands, which have arisen for a class of material that could really only be made from Rhea Fibre. Nor is it likely that this demand will only be spasmodic because it arises from the efforts of the English manufacturers to compete with cheap artificial silk material, which is being made and sold in this Country from France. The present difficulty in the demand lies in the fact that sufficient Rhea cannot be put on the market at present, because where these large manufacturers come into the market their output would easily consume more than all the supply put together, and the second difficulty is that they cannot pay exorbitant prices, consequently, until a reasonable supply is forthcoming, nothing can be done in the matter. After careful investigation, the friends with whom we are interested on this side and in Jamaica, have come to the conclusion that it would be a mistake to rush into and plant a large tract of country in Jamaica at present, as owing to the unknown circumstances that might arise, a bad start might be made which would dishearten people on this side and probably on your side, and prejudice in the eyes of all concerned an industry that as far as human observation can see ought to become a large and successful one. The intention of our friends and ourselves in conjunction with them is to secure a small suitable property in Jamaica and plant it out with plants which we can obtain from the Botanical Gardens, and to send out to Jamaica as early as possible the best description of Machine, or the best system of decorticating the Fibre into a most valuable article for export from Jamaica. With this end in view we have several Machines and more than one system to select from at present, and our efforts are being directed at present to secure the best one. To give you an idea of what is to be avoided and what is desired, we beg to send you the following samples from which you will see that the efforts made by people in Jamaica without being controlled or con- ducted, simply result in discouragement or a loss. Mr. Sidney Moxsy made a good effort to prepare in the best way possible a fibre which would sell on this side and sent it over to us in bags. Asall the samples are more or less about the same, we send you one of them marked Mr. Moxsy’s parcel. You will at once observe how impossible it is to deal with this. article successfully on this side. The Fibre is not only all in a tangle, but is more or less destroyed in strength by not having been properly worked. As compared with this we send you a sample of what is wanted on this side, and what we hope to succeed in producing from | nei vada oihe . r j 151 the Fibre in Jamaica. This sample is marked Patterson’s Fibre because it comes from the east and has been imported by a firm called Patterson & Co. It does not require an expert to see the difference between these two Fibres, and yet it ought to cost just as little money and as little trouble to produce the fine one as it has cost Mr. Moxsy to produce the tangled mass that he has sent home. We will be pleased to supply you with further information as ?s0on as we can. We remain, Yours faithfully. Duntorp Broruers & Co. RAMIE IN THE UNITED STATES. In the Bulletin for March and April, 1894, information was published on Ramie. During the past year a valuable Report was published on this subject by Mr. C. R. Dodge, the Special Agent in charge of Fibre Investigation for the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The following extracts from this Report enlarge on parts of the notes in the Bulletin, and will be useful to those who are about to experiment in the cultiva- tion in Jamaica :— SOIL AND CLIMATE, In general terms it may be said that the ramie plant requires a hot, moist climate, with no extremes of temperature, and a naturally rich, damp, but never a wet, soil, the necessary moisture to be supplied by frequent rains or by irrigation ; in other words, such a climate and soil that when the growing season has commenced, the growth will be rapid and continuous. In the United States the best localities, so far as ex- periment has determined, are portions of Florida, Mississippi, Loui- siana, and Texas, on the Gulf, and central California, on the Pacific Coast. The other Gulf States, doubtless, will prove equally favorable to this culture when more extensive experiments have been undertaken than are now recorded. Regarding the northern limit of commercial culture it is difficult to make positive statements, The plant thrives in South Carolina, and it is fair to suppose that two annual crops are pos- sible, though the quality and yield of the fibre can only be ascertained to a certainty by careful tests of the product of both crops. In the Gulf States Ramie has been grown experimentally in a great variety of soils. from the light sandy uplands to the rich black lands of the Louisiana bottoms, though light, sandy, alluvial soils have always given the best results. In California deep alluvial, sandy or loamy lands which, when well prepared, will hold their moisture through the growing season, or that can be irrigated, are most commonly selected. Any good soil that will produce other crops is recommended, particu- larly if well prepared, or that holds its moisture through the growing season, or which can be irrigated. ENRICHING THE SOIL. In all countries where Ramie has been grown commercially or experi- mentally the necessity for heavily enriching the soil by the application of the farm manures or chemical fertilizers is emphasized, for successful ramie culture is an impossibility on impoverished land. , In Mr, Favier’s admirable treatise on Ramie, a great deal is said upon it 152 this subject, and many interesting tables of analyses are presented. We learn that well-decomposed stable manures and well-ground chemical fertilizers, guano, and oil cake are all used with success upon French Ramie plantations. ‘The practice is to spread these upon the land, the rains or irrigation carrying the nutritive elements where they can be readily assimilated by the plants. Reducing to pounds and acres (as the figures are given in kilograms and hectares) we find that about 7,000 pounds of stable manure, or 525 to 615 pounds of chemical fer- tilizers or oil cake, are used per acre The exact proportion of the fertilizing elements to be employed in the compo- sition of chemical fertilizers is certainly difficult to determine, since it varies with the kinds of soil, but we may adopt a formula based upon the average of the ana- lyses of the crops. The chemical fertilizer composed as follows, and applied in the quantities stated above, per cutting, will give satisfactory results : 3 to 4 per cent of soluble phosphoric acid, 8 to 10 per cent of pure potash, 5 to 6 per cent of ni- trogen, and 8 to 10 per cent of lime. It should be particularly noted that the quantities of fertilizers recom - mended per acre are to be applied per cutting and not annually. Mr. Favier considers stable manure an excellent fertilizer, as it contains very nearly the kind of nutriment that the plant requires. The fertilizer that has given the best results is oil cake, to which has been added car- bonate of potash in the proportion of 10 to 15 parts of the latter to 100 parts of the former. The oil cake supplies the necessary nitrogen and phosphoric acid, but lacks the potash. The restoring of the leaves to the soil supplies a portion of the potash needed by the plant, and when this is not done, a larger proportion of potash than is indicated above should be used. ‘The practice is to bury the leaves in trenches immediately after each cutting. Professor Hilgard, who has treated this subject exhaustively in Bul- letin No 94 of the California Agricultural Experiment Station, makes the statement that of all fiber plants ramie stands first as regards the depletion of the soil of plant food. A very interesting comparative table is given, showing amount, in pounds, of soil ingredients with- drawn from one acre by various fiber and other crops. The portion referring to ramie is here reproduced, and may be studied with interest and profit. Soil ingredients (in pounds) withdrawn from one acre by a crop of ramie. Soil ingredients. Leaves Stalks Bark Whole Plant (4.25 ions). | (7.25 tons). | (2.75 tons). | (14.25 tons). Pp ea a Potash as 68.13 155 .99 27 .86 251.98 Soda ae 8.99 33.63 7 52 50.14 Lime “+ 566 91 71.77 19.14 657 .52 Magnesia ap 114.58 43.68 10.10 168 27 Br. ox. of manganese = 1.92 1.45 .20 3 57 Iron and alumina en 38 .56 12.16 71 51.43 Phosphoric acid aoe 77.13 Or a. 10.86 155.70 Sulphuric aeid “fl 30 86 14.53 3.17 48 .56 Silica ui 692.71 7.06 4 48 704.25 Chlorine why 41.56 2.50 7.09 61.85 Total ash constituents ... 1,641.35 410.48 91.74 2,133.57 Nitrogen see 206.10 105.85 57.75 369.70 153 The total amount of mineral ingredients withdrawn by a single crop (four cuts) is 2,143 pounds, which must be considered as permanently ‘removed when neither the leaves nor the stalks are used as fertilizing materials. The draft per acre made on lime is about 658 pounds; on potash, 252 pounds ; phosphoric acid, 156 pounds, and on nitrogen to the extent of 370 pounds. Of the potash about three-fifths, or 156 pounds, is contained in the stalks, more than one-quarter or 68 pounds, in the leaves, while the bark and fiber, the only production aimed at, contains a little above one tenth, or 28 pounds, of the total amount. The leaves contain nearly 87 per cent of the total lime taken from the soil, that found in the stalks being about 10 per cent, and that in the bark 3 per cent. Of the total phosphoric acid withdrawn, the leaves absorb almost 5U per cent, or 77 pounds; the stalks 45 per cent, or about 68 pounds, while only 7 per cent, or 10.86 pounds, is found in the bark. The depletion of the soil in nitrogen is greatest through the leaves, which have more than 55 per cent of the total, or 206 pounds ; about 29 per cent, or 106 pounds, is found in the stalks, while in the bark there is only 15 per cent or about 58 pounds. It will thus be seen how very small is the proportion of plant food withdrawn by the bark and fiber as compared with that by the leaves and stalks. If the leaves and stalks are returned to the soil, the amount of min- eral matter withdrawn per acre is, comparatively speaking, very small, being only about 28 pounds of potash, 19 of lime, 11 of phosphoric acid, and 58 pounds of nitrogen. A strong soil could withstand such a small demand for a considerable length of time without showing an appre- ciable diminution of crops ; and whenever fertilizing becomes necessa- ry, it will probably be found that, in California, phosphoric acid and ni- trogen are the substances to be supplied. Should the stalks not be used as fertilizer, the amount of potash per- manently removed from the soil would be increased by 156 pounds, that of lime 72, phosphoric acid by 68, and that of nitrogen by 106 pounds; quantities forming, with exception of lime, a large percentage of the total mineral matter withdrawn Mr. 8. B. Allison recommends as a good fertilizer for ramie 300 pounds of cotton-seed meal and 300 pounds of kainit, and suggests mixing with an equal weight of charcoal dust; the special advantage in the use of the last-named substance, however is not clear. The kainit supplies the needed potash, while the necessary nitrogen and phosphoric acid is supplied by the cotton-seed meal. Professor Stubbs recommends two parts of cotton-seed meal and one part of acid phosphate, at the rate of 400 to 450 pounds per acre, though he states that the results of his operations the past season lead him to believe that the fertilizer was not applied in just the right combination for the best success. In Florida the natural phosphate of the State may be used with good results, though the necessary potash will need to be supplied, Frederick Natho, in his Texas experiments, has only used “potash salts at the rate of one ton per acre per year.” He supplies it, proportionately, after each cutting. But enough has been written to enable any planter or experimenter to properly enrich his land for this crop. That the plant cannot be grown successfully without bringing the soil up to the proper fertility is satisfactorily proved by the evidence set forth, and those who try to cheat the land by halfway measures, in 154 the matter of applying fertilizers and in returning the trash to the soil, will in the end only cheat themselvos. SOIL PREPARATION. In preparing the land for a plantation, thorough tilth—that is, deep plowing and cross harrowing—is essential, which should be done in the fall. The ground is frequently broken to a depth of 15 inches or more, but never less than a depth of 12 inches to secure good results; and lumpy land is rolled. Before planting, the ground is again cross-plowed, harrowed and rolled. The plant is propagated by seeds, by cuttings, or by layers, and by division of the roots. When produced from seed, the greatest care is taken with the planting, as the seed is very small. For this reason open-air planting can hardly be relied upon, plants started in the hot-bed giving the best results. After planting, the seeds are covered thinly with sifted earth and kept shaded from the sun until the young plants are 2 or 3 inches high, when sunlight is gradually admitted to them. In five or six weeks they will be strong enough to transplant to the field. Layering is little practiced in this country (see remarks on the subject of planting, p. 155. By far the most practical method and the one which will give the best results is propagation by a division of the roots of old or fully matured plants. The old plants are better than young ones for the purpose, as the root mass is larger and the roots stronger. The planting roots are usually sub-divided into lengths of 3 to 5 inches, each piece showing several eyes Five inches is the better © length to plant, although shorter pieces are often used. PLANTING THE ROOTS There is the widest difference of opinion as to the distances apart the plants should be set. Professor Stubbs formerly advocated planting in rows 4 or 5 feet apart and 1 foot in the row, but in his recent experi- ment the plants were set out in the row much more closely. While this will give good results in the first year, it will prove a drawback in the end, as in two or three years the mass of roots will have become solid, and require resetting to produce suitable stalks for the machine. Mr. Allison plants in rows 44 feet apart and 1 foot in the row. Mr. Natho, a Texas grower, prefers the rows to be 4 feet apart, the plants to be set 15 inches in the row. In California the rows are often set closer than 4 feet. Mr. Allison’s practice has been to prepare the land in the fall by using a subsoil plow. About the Ist February it is cross plowed and well harrowed. A month later it is laid up in flat beds 44 feet from centers, leaving about 6 inches elevation in center of bed. The ground is then barred off and opened to the depth of 4 inches with a scooter plow, the roots being placed about a foot apart in the row and then covered with two furrows. . A eh es die 188 to be of “dry” cane. The recent Dodds reports and the last Demerara report record seedling plots with remarkably high yields of sugar per acre due to a high saccharine richness as well as high tonnage. These seedling varieties shew high promise of solving the problem before us. The most planters now can do is to aid in disseminating information as to the results of this and next year’s reaping, and to make use of the cs conclusions already arrived at until our knowledge is more com- plete. —_— FERNS: SYNOPTICAL LIST—XXXIX. Synoptical List, with descriptions, of the Ferns and Fern-Allies of Ja- maica. By G. S. JenmMAN, Superintendent, Botanical Garden, Demerara. 46. Nephrodium usitatum, Jenm.—ootstock stout, erect, often a span or more high, densely paleaceous with dark dull brown scales; stipites ceespitose, numerous, erect, 9-15 in. lL, channelled, dark and clothed below like the caudex ; fronds erecto-spreading, 14-24 ft. 1. 9-12 in. w., the apex pimnatifid and passing through mere lobes to the acuminate serrato-attenuated point; thinly chartaceous, pellucid, dark green and glossy above and naked, pale beneath and slightly ciliate on the ribs and somewhat grayish from copious scattered minute tubercule ; pin- ne numerous, distinct, spreading nearly or quite horizontally, 4-7 in. 1. gths-1in. w., the lower 1-2 pair little or hardly reduced and sometimes narrowed at the base, upper ones truncate and sessile, widest rather at the base, or more often uniform in width the greater part of their length, passing into the finely acuminate serrato-entire point ; cut a third or rather more to the costz into shallow broadly rounded lobes 2-3 l. w.; margins scarlose, crenulate-entire; veins pellucid, simple, 4-8 to a side, the lowest pair uniting and sending a branch to the simus where the next pair meet; sori medial or nearer the midrib; involucres minute and early obliterated. Sl. Cat. p. 20. Hist. p. 90. t. 48. fig. 2. Herb. Common in the damp woods among the lower hills, gathered in St. Andrew, St. Mary and Clarendon parishes. The pinne of barren fronds are twice as wide as those of fertile, and closer together. The sori are often confined to the outer part of the pinne, and to the lobes, asin the preceding species, to which it has nearest affinity, but from which the different scales of the caudex and stipes, narrow pinnee, shal- lower lobes, obscure involucr s and other characters, abundantly mark it. The involucres are only observable in a young state of the sori. In the narrow pinned fronds the lobes are twice as wide as deep; in the wider they are about equal each way. The texture is often mem- branous. Generally found near streams. 47. N. venustum, J. Sm.—Rootstoek stout erect, often several inches high, the crown densely clothed with large chestnut ovate-acu minate scales; stipites erect, 14-2 ft. 1, clothed at the base like the rootstock, not or slightly channelled, brown ; fronds 2-3 ft. 1. 1-4rd ft. w., the apex pinnatifid ; chartaceous, pellucid ; naked or slightly ciliate on the ribs and edges, dark-green above and glossy, paler beneath ; brown, puberulous, as are the paler costa : pinne numerous, spreading or erect-spreading, 5-9 in. 1. 1-14 in. w, the lowest as large, or 1-3 pairs reduced, and stipitate or not, distant or subdistant, broadest at 189 the base and thence narrowed outwards or uniform along the inner half or two-thirds, the acuminate point subentire; cut down halfway or rather more to the cost into close flat broad lobes 3-6 li. d. and 23-3 li b., 1-2 basal lobes reduced or not in the lower pinnz; margins en- tire or subcrenulate; veins simple, X-12 to a side, lowest pair uniting below, with an excurrent branch, or at the sinus to which the next pair are contiguous; sori medial, or nearer the edge, the latter in the broader pinnz ; involucre as large, dark or cinnamon brown, naked. NV. Fendleri, Hook., Aspidium, Heward in Mag. Nat. His. Sept. 1808, . 464. ; Common in the forests of the central Parishes at 2,000 ft. altit ude, gathered near Mt. Olivet, Manchester andon Mt. Diablo, St. Ann, varia- ble in the breadth of the pinnze and position of the sori. The fronds present two states.—A broad and a narrow pinned ; inthe former the pinnez are 1 in. w. and in the latter 14. Scattered on the underside, sparsely or more plentifully, are minute microscopic pale blistered points. In the large state the fructification is confined to the lobes, while in the smaller in which it is generally medial it descends to the lower veins at or below the sinus. N. Fendleri, Hook, was based on Nicaraguan specimens. 48. N. unitum, R_ Br.—Rootstock wide-creeping, in water, as thick as a quill, cylindric, dark-coloured, eventually naked ; stipites erect, distant, 1-3 ft. 1., naked, dark-brown, channelled ; fronds oblong- lanceolate, 14-3 ft. 1, 5-10 in. w., not narrowed at the base; dark- green, naked or ciliate, with a few small brown scales beneath, coriu- ceous and stiff pinne erecto-spreading or horizontal, numerous, 1—2 or more in, apart below, 4-6 in., l. 4-5 l. w., rounded at the base, and the lower ones substipitate and a little narrowed there, acuminate or bluntish and crenate-entire at the apex, below this cut 4 or 4rd to the coste into confluent broad deltoid or rounded lobes ; rachis stiff dark- brown, puberulous or naked; veins fine and close, pellucid, deeply curved, 6-9 to aside, the lowest pair sending a branch to the sinus where the next pair meet ; sori copious, medial; involucres naked, at length dark-brown. Polypodium, L. Plentiful in Salt Pond, near Guava ridge, St. Andrew, between 3,000 4,000 ft., alt., often common in unused trenches, wet savannahs and the sides of open sun exposed rivers. This is a purely aquatic species with slender wide diffused branched rhizomes, which spread widely but densely through the other herbage of shallow weed covered water. It is well marked by these characters, its coriaceous texture, generally dark colour (N. gongylodes, Schk., is a pale thinner form found on the continent) and narrow pinne with broad shallow deltoid or round scallop-like lobes. The upper pinne are merely serrulate and the apex of the frond is either pinnatifid or terminates in a distinct lobed pinne. The under surface is often slightly pubescent. 49. N. serrulatum, Jenm.-—Rootstock more or less stout, erect, a few inches to often a foot or more high; stipites tufted, numerous, erect, a span to 1} ft. 1, grayish-puberulous, scaly only at the base ; fronds 1-24 ft. 1. 4-1 ft. w, usually somewhat narrowed (sometimes much) at the base, chartaceous, pellucid, glabrous, or the costz slightly puberulous or ciliate beneath, varying from light to dark green ; pin- ne spreading, sub-distant or distant, contiguous above, numerous in i 2 oo) 190 the larger fronds, oblong or linear-lanceolate, acuminate, the basé truncate or somewhat rounded and sessile, 4—7 in. |., $—1 in. b., subentire or with broad appressed lobules or cut to }th or less to the axis into rounded, even or crenate close, lobes, which are 24-3 li. w., rachis strong, channelled, grayish-puberulous; veins 3-6 to a side, the oppo- site inferior pair uniting at a broad angle and sending a long branch to the sinus, at or below which, usually, 1-2 others join ; sori nearer to the mid vein on the inferior, other, or all the veins; involucres small and soon obliterated —Polypodium serrulatum, Sw. Polypodium Lunanianum, Heward in Mag. Nat. Hist. Sept., 1838, p. 460. Aspidium, Mett. a. var. paucipinnatum.—Fronds relatively small and pinne relatively few, the margins subentire with appressed shallow lobes, colour light, sori usually sparse. b. var. angustum.—Fronds medium sized or large; pinne narrow, subentire or with shallow appressed lobes ; puberulous, dark-green ; sori usually occupying all the veins from costz to margin. Abundant on limestone rocks wherever they crop to the surface all through the island. There is much variation in the size of the fronds, number of pinne (from 4-24 dozen) their degree of, or absence of any, cutting, the colour (which passes from pale to dark-green), and the paucity or abundance of the sori, the latter varying from a single row along each side of the costze to as many rows as there are veins to bear it. There is no doubt of the presence of the involucre, but it is small and displaced or concealed very early by the ripening sori. There is no absolute and definite line between the forms described. The largest and most lobate state resembles a good deal Polypodium flavopunc- tatum, to which it has often been assigned, but from which the vena- tion and other characters at sight distinguish it. This and its forms are the western analogues of N., amboinense Presl. and N., arbuscula, Desv. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT. LIBRARY. Various Papers [ Kew. ] Agri. Bulletin, Malay Peninsula, May, 1896. [ Director. ] Bulletin Dept. of Agri., Queensland. Nos.8 &13. [Dept. of Agri.] Bulletin Louisiana State, Exp. Station, on Citrus Fruits. [Director] Bulletin Torrey Botanical Club, No. 7, July 1896. [Editor.] Bulletin Bot. Garden, Grenada, May 1896. [Curator.] Bulletin Bot. Garden, Trinidad. No. 7. July, 1896. [Supt.] Bulletin Trinidad Field Nat. Club. No. 12. Feby. 1896. [Secty.] Bulletin Kolonial Museum, Haarlem. July 1896. [Edstor. | Bulletin de Herbier Boissier. No. 6. June, [Conservatur. ] Agri. Gazette of N.S. Wales. Parts5 May 1896, [Dept. of Agri.] Agri. Gazette & Planter’s Journal, Barbados. No.2. July 1896. [Editor.” Agri. Journal, Cape Colony. No.13. June 1896. [Dep of Agri.] Hawaiian Planter’s Monthly. No.7. July 1896. [Kditor.] Revue Agricole. No. 6. June 1896. [Editor. ] Central African Planter. May 1896. [Editor. } Sugar. Nos.8. &9 June & July 1896. [ Editor.] Sugar-Cane. No. 324. July 1896. [Editor.] Sugar Journal. No.5 June 1896. [Editor. ] Experiment Station Record, Vol. viii. No.8. [U.S. Dept. of Agri.] Oil Producing seeds and other Pamphlets. [U.S. Dept. of Agri.] Transactions Kansas Academy of Science. 1893-94. [Librarian ]. 191 Science Gossip. July & August 1896. [Editor.] Report Dodd’s Reformatory, Barbados. 1895. [Supt.] Report Bot. Dept., Agr. College, Michigan 1895. [ Director. | North American Fauna. No. 11. [U.S. Dept. of Agri. ] Chemist & Druggist. Nos 844 849. June & July 1896. {[{Editor. | American Journal of Pharmacy. No.8 August, 1896. [Kditor.| Montreal Pharm. Journal. June and July, 1396. [ Editor. | Produce World. Nos. 39-42. July 1896. [Editor. | W. I. and Commercial Advertiser, July, & August 18/6. [ Editor. | W.I. Home Builder. June 1896. [Editor.] Sucrerie Indigéne et Coloniale. Nos.3and4. July 1896. [Editor.| Times of Ceylon. Nos. 22-27. June & July 1896. [{ Editor. | Rep ort on the Dairy Industry of Denmar« by Prof. Georgeson.| U.S. Dept. of Agri. | Coffee, its History, Classfication and Description by J. M. Walsh. [Author] Principal Diseases in Citrus Fruits in Florida by H. J. Webber. [ Author. | Fertilization of the soil as affecting the Orange in health and disease by H. J. Webber. [ Author. } The two Freezes of 1894-95 in Florida and what they teach, by H. J. Webber [ Author] The Pineapple Industry in the United States by H. J. Webber. [ Author. ] PLANTS. From T. Astwood Smith, Esq.— Begonia rubra, var. From W. G. Thompson, Esq.— Grape Fruit buds From Dr. Ogilvie— Shaddock buds From J. C. Farquharson, Esq.-— Shaddock buds From B. 8. Gosset, Esq.— Grape Fruit buds From Hon. Lt. Col. Ward.— Navel Orange buds Citron buds SEEDS. From Baron Sir. F. von Mueller, Melbourne Atriplex leptocarpum as halimoides Kennedya monophylla Acacia microbotrys “s pycnantha Trivelia robusta Eucalyptus calophylla “ paniculata = Muelleriana e corymbosa “ miniata « resinifera “ tereticornis = hzemastoma From Public Gardens, Nagpur, India Hardwickia binata From Botanic Gardens, Trinidad Saraca indica Martinezia cary otefolia From Hon. T. Capper Stephanotis floribunda From Hon. J. T. Palache Dutch Runner Beans From Dr. Plaxton Lignum Vitz (second lot), 192 CASTLETON GARDENS. Visitors to the Gardens may expect to see the following plants in flower or fruit during the month of September :— In FLOWER. In Frorr. Acacia cyanophylla, Lindl. Averrhoa Carambola, Linn. Allamanda nerilfolia, Hook. Cananga odorata, Hook. f. & Thoms. Ardisia tinifolia, Sw. Couroupita guianensis, Aubl. Artocarpus Lakoocha, Roxb. Dillenia indica, Linn. Cassia baccilaris, Linn. Diospyros discolor, Willd. C. glauca, Lam. Erythroxylon Coca, Lam. C. siamea, Lam. Garcinia Mangostana, Linn. Coivillea racemosa, Boij. Manihot Glaziovii, Muell. Arg. Dillenia indica, Linn. Michelia Champaca, Linn. Eriobotrya japonica, Lindl. Noronhia emarginata, Thou. Erythrina umbrosa, H. B. & K, Omphalea triandra, Linn. Mesua ferrea, Linn. Mimusops Elengi, Linn. Musa coccinea, Andr. Myroxylon toluiferum, H. B. & K. Napoleona inperialis Beauv. -Norantea guianensis, Aubl. Pachira aquatica, Aubl. Phyllanthus nivosus, Bull. Pterocarpus Draco, Linn. Quassia amara, Linn. Ravenala madagascariensis, J. F. Gmel. Sanchezia nobilis, Hook. f. ) Stevensonia grandifolia, F. Dunc. | ’ 7 v3 ‘ : New Series. } SEPTEMBER, 1896. Wels) 241. ; Part 9. BULLETIN OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, JAMAICA. ——— -— > > “y P al - “4 ~ » 2 : e - 7 - a ; . - “? 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