226 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1883. 



years ago. There is also a fal^ index, and (a minor 

 mercy yet one for which thanks are due to the publisher) 

 the book is issued %vith the leaves ready cut. 



A few words may be said with referencf 

 to the nomenclature of Ferns, and the causes of 

 its great complexitj'. In Mr. Wall's check-list o- 

 Ceylon Ferns, pi-inted in 1879 for labelling collece 

 tions, the names given ai'e those of Hooker and Baker's 

 " Synopsis Filicum" and these ai-e no doubt generally 

 followed. It contains 215 species (and about 30 vaiieties 

 and forms) arranged under IS genera ; Colonel Bed- 

 dome's Handbook gives us only 225 species (and about 

 20 varieties) but these are placed under no less than 

 70 genera. It is this difference in the estimate of 

 genera that is the principal cause of the variation of 

 names. Those who have been accustomed to consult the 

 large works of Beddome will be prepared to find him 

 employing as genera the names used to deiine 

 Eub-genera only in the " Synopsis Filicum." Botanic- 

 ally this course has much to justify it, but one 

 outcome of it is that the names of fully halt of 

 cm- Fems become different from those to which we were 

 accustomed. This is a serious matter for the amateiu' 

 who thinks a Fern should have one name and stick 

 to it ; as a matter of fact most have as many names 

 as a Loudon thief, an Irish rebel, or any other person 

 who does not wish to be too easily recognized. 



So difficult indeed has it been found to group the 

 Ferns into any really natural and weU-detined genera, 

 and so many and various have been the attempts, that 

 the synonymy has become at last so intricate and in- 

 volved that the ordinaiy la,ws of botanical nomenclatm'e have 

 had to be relaxed, and a dift'erent ininciple — that namely 

 acknowledging a right of jniority in specific names alone 

 whatever may have been the genus imder which they may 

 have been fii-st published — permitted. But this concession 

 has by no means lessened oiu' name-changes : rather has it 

 increased them, for pteridologists think themselves now 

 bound to use the original specific name when discovered, 

 and thus many well-established later names have to give 

 way. Thus om- well known Gleichenia dicholoma has 

 to become G. linearis because long years ago Bminan 

 called it " Polypodium Kiieare." This is a rather tech- 

 nical digi'cssion, but may pai'tially serve to explain how 

 it is that ferns have so many names. 



How thoroughly the Indian Ferns must now be 

 kno\\Ti is clear from the fact that the present book con- 

 tains only two new species. Col. Beddome's views on 

 species-limitation are moderate; he has reduced to varieties, 

 however, more of om- "species" than he has raised 

 " varieties" to species, so that on the whole our Ceylon 

 Fern-hst is a httle reduced. Twenty-tlu'ee specits are 

 given as peculiar to, or as it is termed endemic in, 

 Ceylon. Colonel Beddome follows Mr. Clai-ke in giving 

 Cyrtomimn faleatum for this island, but the authority 

 for this statement is not given. 



There need be no hesitation in cordially recommend- 

 ing this Handbook to all interested in the beautiful 

 plants of which it ti'eats, and predicting for it the wide 

 circulation it deseiwes. H. T. 



NOTES ON STKAITS SETTLEMENTS.— No. 10. 

 By H. Cottam. 



The lat.ut gardks — buxg.ilow— svperintendent's house 

 — cofjea arabic.4^— cofpealiberica — cincuoxa ledg 

 ekiaxa— bad soil — western aspect— raisfali— view 

 of the mixes and lowx of thaipexg— the kurseries 

 — my poor cinciioxa seed— tuacixg at a gr.adien't 



OF ONE FOOT IX SEVEN' — MAXWELL'S HILL — EIECH'S 

 HILI. — THE SAN.\TOEIUM CLEAKIXG AXD GUXOKG HEJOL' 

 — OKA.ND VIEW OF PEUAK, PENAKO AND OTUEB ISLANDS 



The Larut garden was opened about the same time as 

 the Gapis mountain experimental garden, but somehow or 

 ether has not been planted eutiitly. Underneath tU« sana- 



torium bungalow there is a small field of about five acres 

 of Coffea arahica, and this was in a matted state like so 

 many umbrellas. After looking romid amongst the Klings 

 we found two who had been to Kandy and knew how 

 to prune, so at it we went and soon whipped tlie coffee 

 into shape, opened out the centres Hapiitale fashion : the 

 result was a fine blossom, set in March, and leaf-disease 

 almost disappeared though still hoveling aroimd as a kind 

 of " sword of Damocles " hauging by a ttjead ready to tot- 

 ally annihilate. There were about 6,000 or 7,000 cotfee plants 

 in beds and imder ti-ees,and these we fostered and planted 

 out into the clearing. This was of course after I had 

 taken over charge of the garden, for Mr. Wray (junr.) is 

 actually the curator of the Perak Museum, though at 

 present the Perak Museum is a myth ! However, speci- 

 mens are being got ready, by the curator, and the pre- 

 sent site of the Museum is underneath the court-house. 

 The superintendent's house on this wonderful Larut 

 garden is like one of your pulping-houscs, bertuni leaf, 

 attap roof and planked, with sliding window shutters to 

 economize glass two rooms, not exactly sung, because the 

 wind gets in through the cracks in the floor and wall and 

 bnUies nature's soft nurse ou stormy nights. I found a 

 couple of bags of coff' e very badly cured in the bunga- 

 low : the Kliugs gathered i^ for my predecessor by con- 

 tract for so many cents a kattie, and the way they pul- 

 ped it w.is by using their paddy pounder instead of the 

 fingers and thumbs: the 'consequence was as you would 

 natur.illy suppose a rotten sample of parchment with 50 

 per cent black. Since Mr. W. left, this system has been 

 quite abolished, and the cherry gathered and brought to 

 me to be cured properly for the Calcutta Exhibition. The 

 2,500 Coffca liberica we gave 3Ir. L. Wray from our lower 

 garden are alive but not doing so wtll as they might have 

 done ; the soil is bad, the aspect western, and the elev- 

 ation too high and cold for them ; they may, however, do 

 better when warmer weather comes. I am writing of what 

 appeared in February last, and Ibis is July, a warm month, 

 and the Liberians are making an effort like Mrs. Dombey, 

 and will no doubt " get much stronger." 



Let it be remembered I am only making a casual report 

 on the Larut Garden, having nothing to do with it at the 

 time, but only living on it in my bathing machine between 

 the sanatorium bimgalow and the supeiinteudent's house. 

 Why Mr. L. Wray was retained as superintendent when 

 drawing curator's pay is still a mysteiy to me ': Of course 

 we got wet every day in the jtmgle, the rainfall on this side 

 of the country being over 300 inches jjer annum ! The view 

 of the mines and town of Thaipeng, with sometunes a view 

 of I'enaug, could be obtained in tine weather, and when not 

 obscured by mist. The ntu'series here were miserable ar- 

 rangements, the sheds badly made and leaking and the 

 beds not prepared soil, but just shovelled together anyhow, 

 with clods as big as a coconut ; so much for cheaj) and nasty 

 work, though doubts may be entertained as to the cheapness 

 of the work. My poor cinchona seed was nowhere, just 

 sowii broadcast on a lot of clods without side shade to the 

 beds and the roof leaking, miserable apology for uiu-seiy 

 making. I never saw such plantation work in all my 

 life as was to be met with on this Larut Govei-nment ex- 

 perimental gai'den. As for the Ledger plants -put out into 

 the dealing, one would hardly guess they was cinchonas of 

 any kind little thinking, that they were the far famed Ledge- 

 riana Cinchona, planted out Zfcet high with a pan- of small 

 leaves at the top like miniature coconut trees. Some of these 

 monster Ltdger seedlings, (two years in nursery X do not 

 beUeve) were xn-opped up between two thick stakes, and re- 

 minded the writer very much of an old gentleman between 

 two policemen, who lost his way on Christmas night after din- 

 ingnot wisely but too well. To keep these extraordinary ledge- 

 riana seedUngs in position a jjiece of coir rope has been tied 

 round the poor things' necks and attached to the stakes be" 

 fore mentioned. Wiis ever .-rnvthing so absurd r Then 

 the road making, nearly all of it is traced at a gradi- 

 ent of one foot in seven, a very ugly giathent and very 

 expensive to maintain in order, at the extravagant rates 

 of wages and contracts paid to Malays and Chinese. The 

 road to be traced is a most diificult cue to ti'ace, but 

 this we shall come to in next letter (No. 11.); suffice it 

 to say that there are three mountains or big hills to 

 wind round at the base before reaching the foot of Gu- 

 nong Hcjou, Maxwell's Hill named after Assistant Ec- 

 »ideut Maxwell and who by-the-byc is always very highly 



