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21 
to Sincapore and Batavia, and thence to China, where it is much 
prized. The Mpa fruticans, though of humble growth among 
the Palms, is as valuable to the people of Borneo as any of its 
congeners. It is found on river-banks wherever the salt water 
reaches, and it overspreads the salt marshes for thousands of acres. 
Its chief value is for covering houses, and the roofs made of its 
leaves last for two years. Salt is procured from the ashes of the 
burnt foliage, and syrup and sugar from its flower-stalk. ‘The 
fruit is also eaten. The plant has no stem ; but its leaves, twenty 
feet long, spring from the centre. 
The Mangrove, which inhabits the same spots as the Mipa, 
affords the best fire-wood, and a coarse bitter salt is extracted 
from its aerial roots. 
The above enumeration includes those vegetable productions 
of Borneo which are used for home consumption. A separate 
notice will be taken of such as are collected for exportation. 
(To be continued.) 
The Bath Botanic Garden, Jamaica. 
it will gratify our readers, we are sure, to know that the 
Botanic Garden of Bath, Jamaica, once a flourishing spot under 
the Directorship of Dr. Me’ Fadyen, then abandoned, or nearly 
so, for want of funds, has again revived under the charge of 
Mr. Nathaniel Wilson, aided by the active exertions of the Rev. 
Mr. Wharton and Mark J. Mc’Ken Esq., to all of whom the 
Royal Gardens of Kew are under great obligations for most 
valuable contributions to the stoves, to the Museum, and to the 
Herbarium. We make the following extracts from the last 
report drawn up by the able and intelligent Curator :— 
“During the past year I have dispersed upwards of 4000 
plants, nearly double the number that were called for the year 
before. As those plants that have been originally introduced, 
and for many years grown in the Island, are by this time fully 
dispersed and established, it is my intention gradually to abandon 
their cultivation, which I must, from the limited extent of the 
garden, of necessity do, to make space for the reception and full 
development of the more rare sorts recently introduced. As a 
grand repository of exotic plants, it will be necessary that a 
Specimen of every introduced plant be kept in the garden, but 
beyond this, as far as the old plants are concerned, it is my 
