888 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[June i, 1884, 



ing the irritation. The dose of the oil is from 1 to 6 minims, 

 and, of the powdered leaves, J to 1 drachm. Although 

 enjoying in earlier days a reputation as an anti-spasmodic, 

 anthelmintic, and stimulant, it has, from the uncertainty 

 of its action, given place to more reliable remedies. 



Oleum Saebinas, distilled from the tops, leaves, and gal- 

 buli of Juniparus saHna, which is cultivated in England. 

 It is grown largely on the Continent, and particularly in 

 that latitude from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus. The pro- 

 duct of oil is about J to ^ per cent. The wood does not 

 yield any oil. Specific gravity, -895 to -920. Samples have 

 fj-equently been met with adulterated with turpentine, 

 which may be detected by ascertaining the solubility in 

 alcohol. By adding a noted quantity to a pme sample, and 

 comparing the degree of solubility, the extent of adulteration 

 can readily be proved. 



Oleum absinthii, oleum rosmarini and oleum pulegii are 

 distilled in small quantities. Yields of oils vary considerably. 



I should like to mention again the subject of lavender 

 cultivation. The main cause of the scarcity of lavender is 

 the loss of plants occasioned by a disease which attacks them 

 visil)ly in the summer and autumn, the iirst indication of 

 which is a withering of the leaves, commencing on a small 

 branch and extending thi'oughout the whole plant. 



On puUing a plant from the soil on the first appearance 

 of disease, the pith in the .small roots will be found dis- 

 colored and sometimes almost black, indicating that the 

 disease commences in the ground. 



One grower writes, " When I commenced growing laven- 

 der in 1847, it had not appeared, and for more than twelve 

 years I do not remember to have lost a single plant from 

 this cause; now the complaint has extended throughout 

 this country. "\Ve cannot now depend upon the plants 

 lasting more than three years, the first year, even under 

 most favorable circumstances, only paying expenses of cultiv- 

 ation let alone rent of the land. 



There has been a marked decline in the number of acres 

 under cultivation the last year. Mitcham and district, 2.'> 

 to 30 acres ; and at Hitchin, Messrs. Kansom & Perks, the 

 two growers there about 65 acres ; the outlying districts 

 and every other source not bringing the total number of 

 acres above 120. 



In concluding I have to express my very best thanks to 

 Mr. "\V. Kansom, of Hitchin ; Mr. HoUand of Market Deep- 

 ing; Mr. Jones, Carshalton, Surrey, and other cultivators 

 who have sent me statistics and very material information 

 embodied in my paper. — Chemist ami Drui/aisi. 



New Zealand Plants.— Mr. John F. Ai-mstrong, of the 

 Public Gardens, Ohristchurch, has published a useful list 

 of timber trees, alimentary, fibre, fodder, medicinal, oil, 

 and dye plants, plants for tanning and basket-work, for 

 binding sand-drifts, and for making hedges suitable for 

 cultivation in New Zealand. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Kew Gardens. — The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew 

 received 53,U00 insitors on Monday last, all respectable and 

 orderly. Last Easter the number was only 38,000 ; the pre- 

 vious year it reached the high total of 60,()00. With that 

 evception so large a return as Monday's has not been reached 

 on any Easter Monday, at least since 1878. — Unci. 



PKOPAGATiNGErpHOHBiA,Ficus,&c. — Most of those plants 

 that exude gummy or milky juices are amongst those which 

 are found rather difficult to root from cuttings, if the cut- 

 tiiigs have not been exceptionally treated before being in- 

 serted in the cutting-pan or bed. It has been found by 

 long practice that the rooting process takes effect sooner 

 and with better results if the viscous juices are allowed to 

 ooze out — a process that may take from twelve hours to 

 four weeks, according to the species. As a ride the cuttings 

 are best taken off just as growth has commenced, and there- 

 fore when the juices arc rather abundant, still less so than 

 diu-ing full growth. In the case of species with ligneous 

 structure the cuttings may be of one, or two, or three years 

 old wood, and should never be less than one year old. 

 These cuttings, after being made fit for insertion, should 

 be buried completely head downwards in a pot sufficiently 

 largo to contain them without bruising, and then be cover- 

 ed with some moderately moist soil or leaf-mould. They 

 should remain till all sweating-out has ceased, when they 

 should be taken out and washed clean with a soft sponge, 

 when they can be inserted in the usual way. Cuttings so 

 treated will be found to succeed in a shorter time than 



those not so handled, and there will be fewer losses in the 

 cutting-pans. — Ihid. 



Indiarubbee in Paea. — Reporting on the trade and com- 

 merce of Para, Mr. Consul Green says the chief article 

 of export is indiarubber, and that this trade has increased 

 BO much of late years, owing to the high prices the article 

 has been realising in the consuming markets, which has 

 induced immigrants to apply themselves chiefiy to its col 

 lection. " Shoidd the demand continue for the article,' 

 Mr. Green says, " I see no reason why the yield should 

 not go on increasing, as there are new fields being con- 

 tinually opened. From Peru now comes a class of rubber 

 styled 'Caucho,' in slabs or sheets of about 4 inches thick 

 and 2 to 3 feet long. It ranks a little higher in value 

 than the coarse quahty, i.e., Sernamby, and I should estim- 

 ate that 400 to 500 tons of this quality come to market 

 every year." From a table showing the indiarubber crops 

 from 1870 to 1882, it appears that in the former year 

 4,794 tons were produced, which steadily increased till 

 1881, when it showed 8,936 tons, rising m 1682 to 0,024 

 tons. The increase in value in the twelve years was about 

 £1,749,011 13s. Ad.— Ihid. 



The Anndal Kepoets of the Royal Gaedens, Kew, 

 have of late years so largely developed in interest that 

 they have become not only the formal record of work done 

 in that establishment, and in the colouial gardens more 

 or less closely connected with it, but constitute a sort of 

 year book of economic botany. It is with regret, there- 

 fore, that we have only now received the report for the 

 year 1882. Pressure of work, the ill-health and absence 

 from duty of the Curator, whose duties thus devolved in 

 a great measure on others, as well as other personal rea- 

 sons of a similar regretable character, account for the delay 

 — a delay, moreover, for which the officials are not whoUy 

 responsible, as, to make matters worse, nearly six months 

 have elapsed since the report was sent in. • * Into the 

 details of the colouial correspondence relating to economic 

 botany we cannot now enter, as we may have occasion to 

 make some extracts from them at a future time. We 

 cannot, however, help adverting once again to the splendid 

 service to humanity that Kew and those associated with 

 it have been enabled to effect in the case of the Cinchona 

 in India, Ceylon, Jamaica, and elsewhere, to which may 

 now be added the introduction of the three most import- 

 ant sources of indiarubber into our Eastern dominions, 

 where it has now been proved that they will yield pro- 

 ducts in no wise inferior to' those yielded in the native 

 countries of the trees in question. The commercial im- 

 portance of this subject can under the existing demand for 

 rubber hardly be over-estimated. The intimate relation 

 between botanical science and practical utility is singularly 

 borne out in the history of these two enterprises. Even 

 the question of nomenclature, a dry enough subject, apt 

 to he lookeil on by the profane as at the best laborious 

 trifhng, and to be slightly considered by the new biological 

 school of botanists, is incidentally shown in the pages of 

 the present report to be a point of first-clas.s importance, 

 to the full as necessary for the successful carrying out these 

 great and beneficent schemes as any other department of 

 botanical science. In quitting for the present the con.sider- 

 ation of this report we must not omit to mention one of 

 its most valuable feattu'es, which, hke the traditional post- 

 script to a lady's letter, occupies the appendix. This is a 

 list of t\v: Palms cultivated in the garden, amounting in 

 all to 4:?ii species. These have, so far as circumstances 

 permitted, been identified by Sir .Joseph Hooker, who here 

 gives us a list of the names and localities of the species 

 classifii d under the several tribes, sub-tribes, and genera, 

 adopted by him in the last volume of the Genera Plant- 

 arirm. In many cases the dimensions also are given, and 

 references made to the illustrations of the plants in the 

 " North Gallery.'' One more postcript devoted to figures. 

 The number visiting the garden in 1882 was 1,244,167 ! — 

 the largest number on any one day beiug over 95,000. — Ihid^ 



Pltkifying Wai'EE. — Water containing vegetable matter 

 may be purified by dropping in a gallon of the water 3 or 

 3 drops of muriated tincture of iron. In the course of an 

 hour or two the iron will carry all the organic matter to 

 the bottom of the vessel, leaving the water pure and whole- 

 some. This will not purify water that contains noxious 

 gases, such as come from drains and cesspools. — Kiiral 

 Californian. 



