Vol. III. No. 54. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



151 



SCIENCE NOTES. 



The Talipot Palm. 



We are informed by Mr. .1. .Tones, tlie Curator of the 

 Botanic Station at Dominica, that the Talipot palm 

 {Covi/phd vmhrai'ulifira) growing in the Public Gardens at 

 Roseau i.s now throwing out its infioresence. This plant is 

 said to be about thirty years old. 



References have already been made in the Af/riviiltuiril 

 Keu's (Vol. Ill, i>p. 44 and 108) to the fruiting of this palm 

 in British Guiana and Jamaica. The plant in British Guiana 

 was about twenty-eight years old at time of fruiting ; it 

 possessed ' a stem 50 to 60 feet high, crowned with a panicle, 

 10 to 12 feet long, bearing an enormous crop of fruit.' 



This palm is a native of Ce3'lon, where its leaves are 

 commonly used by the natives as umbrellas and also for 

 thatching. The talipot iialm fruits but once in its life, the 

 fruiting process terminating its life. 



Ylang- Ylang. * 



The Ylang-Ylang or Ihlang-Ihlang tree of the Philippine 

 Islands yields Howers that furnish by distillation a valuable 

 essential oil. 



The tree is cultivated in many of the Botanic Gardens 

 in the West Indies and it ajjpears to do well in this part of 

 the world. It belongs to the Sour sop family (Anonaceae), 

 but the fruit is not edible. The chief, in fact the only, 

 interest attached to it is Ijased on the perfume extracted 

 from the flowers. 



According to Indian Flatiting and G'ardemvi/, the 

 flowers of the Ylang-Ylang are being utilized in Reunion for 

 the production of an essential oil that is in large and 

 increasing demand in Europe. The price has been steadily 

 rising during the last few years. According to M. de 

 Flacourt, a hectare of land at Reunion planted with 500 

 Ylang-Ylang trees should yield a net profit of 1,116 francs. 



!Mr. J. Charles Sawer, in a letter dated February 13 last, 

 states that Ylang oil is costly and it cannot be prepared 

 properly except by using a vacuum still made in London for 

 such special purpose.s. He adds : ' Manila Ylang oil goes 

 higher and higher in price, the supply I)eing insufficient for 

 the demand ; the flowers olitain high prices in the island of 

 Luzon'. 



Plants and Nitrogen. 



It is a well-known fact that the majority of green 

 plants require their nitrogen to be supplied to them in 

 the form of nitrates. Most green plants are unable to 

 take in nitrogen which is in the form of ammonia or 

 ammonia compounds. The following abstract, taken 

 from the Exper'nnevt Siiition Record of February 

 1904, gives an account of a small, green alga, which has 

 adapted itself to the taking in of nitrogen in the form 

 of ammonia compounds. The original paper appeared 

 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol. 71, pp. 

 458-76:— 



A study is reported of a small, unicellular, green alga, 

 ■which was noticed as frequently present in sewage and 

 sewage materials, wlien these luul been kept for some time, 

 particular reference being paid to its nitrogen metabolism. 

 Diluted ammoniacal solutions were found to have become 



* Artahotrys odoratissirmts. 



infested with this alga, a fact that seemed of interest in the 

 phj-siology of the plant. 



Pure cultures were prepared and grown in various media. 

 While chlorophyll-bearing plants in general prefer their 

 nitrogen in the form of nitrates; these are found readily to 

 assimilate nitrogen in the form of ammonia and to present 

 the best growth when grown in cultures containing ammonia 

 or various ammoniacal compounds. This feature of the 

 nitrogen assimilation of the plant is believed to be a special- 

 ized characteristic developed from the growth of the plant in 

 water, which contained comptaratively large amounts of 

 ammonia such as are found in sewage and sewage-polluted 

 water. 



Albizzia Lebbek. 



The following note on the growth of Alhlzzia 

 Lebbek, known in Jamaica as ' Woman's Tongue ' and 

 in Barbados as 'Barbados ebony', is taken from the 

 Trinidad Bulletin of Miscellmteous Information for 

 April :— 



This tree, though so common in the island of Jamaica, 

 is one which does not thrive under cultivation in Trinidad ; 

 for even with the greatest care it can hardly be kept alive. 



This fact is strong evidence that there exists a decided 

 difference in climate between the two islands. 



That the dift'erence is not one of temperature, merely, is 

 shown by the fact that the mean annual and daily readings 

 at the two places differ but slightly ; the mean annual by 

 half a degree only, at similar elevations. 



From observations during a series of years it would 

 appear that the failure of Albizzia Lehhelc in Trinidad, is 

 due probably to the greater humidity which exists in the 

 latter place, and possibly to a deficiency of calcareous matter 

 in the soil. The Saman (Pithecolobium Samaii, Bentli.,) is 

 a tree which flourishes in Jamaica side by side with the 

 Albizzia, and does equally well, if not better, in Trinidad. 



We have here, therefore, a case which is interesting as 

 to the why and wherefore of the different growth shown by 

 two leguminous trees of similar habit and nearly related 

 botanically to each other. In Trinidad and also Jamaica 

 there is strong evidence that the Saman, ('Guango' of 

 Jamaica) is an imported tree, while the Albizzia is indigenous 

 to Jamaica but imported to Trinidad. 



AGRICULTURE IN THE ARGENTINE. 



The Consular Re^iort on the Argentine Republic 

 for 1902 and 1903 has the following reference to 

 agricultural progress in that country : — 



The abundant harvest of 1902-3, followed by the 

 excellent prospects of that of 1903-4, has given a remarkable 

 •stimulus to agriculture in the Argentine Republic, and the 

 area cultivated in 1903 shows a very large increase over any 

 previous year. The chief features are the increasing 

 cultivation of maize, especially in the province of Santa Fe, 

 and the continued laying down of land to lucerne (alfalfa) in 

 the western and north-western districts, where water is found 

 only a few metres from the surface. In fact the growing of 

 lucerne may be said to have revolutionized agriculture in this 

 country, where it will yield excellent crops for many years, 

 if not eaten down too closely by sheep or ruined by drought 

 in districts where the water is deeper. 



The imports of agricultural machinery, threshing 

 machines, etc., from the United ICingdom and the United 

 States have been exceptionally large of late. 



