558 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Febrtjart I, 1884. 



their margins or serrated t:> wards the apex. The capsule, 

 or fruit, is five-celled and five-valved ; the ceils ctmtain 

 many seeds, cove.'el with suky or c''"^ . ' ' 

 for;u the kapjii oi* veg.'tabto-sii'j. Th: 

 the tr^e, wiieii mlsc*d with spiiies, is us. i . 

 complaiuts, and the seeds yield a dirk-colourevi uiL iltti 

 tree is of rapid gi-owth, and is lofty and imposing in 

 appearance. It is fouud in India, tho Malayan Ai'chi- 

 pelago, and iu Africa, and other countries. In the East 

 genL'rally. Kapok- is used for sfcuaing pillows. &;c., and for 

 tinder, but it has been found that the smoothness of the 

 fibre prevents cohesion or "felting," so necessary and im- 

 portant for spinning purposes. In Africa the tree is looked 

 on with \oneration, and is termed the "'go i-tree." iu some 

 disti-icts it being looked upon as a sacrilege to cut the 

 tree down. Still the trunk is nseil for forming canoes, and 

 although the wood is soft and liable to the attacks of 

 iusocts, if soaked in lime-water it becomes muoli more 

 durable. The silk-cotton, either alone or^nixed \rith cot- 

 ton, is largely utilised iu Africa. The yo\mg leaves are 

 used as food, and form not a bad substitute for "Ocbro" 

 { HJb iscus escidentns). 



Another tree yielding silk-cotton in India is the Cockh- 

 speniium f/nssypmrny DC, the JJomhnx (/ossipinum of Linnaeus ; 

 a member of the tea order (TerustrceiniaceEe). It is a 

 tree attaining a height of 50 ft., and the soft silky hairs 

 surrounding the seeds are used for stuffing purpose.s. The 

 tree has large conspicuous yellow liowers, and is not im- 

 common in 8oitheru Inilia, Travancore, and Coromandel. 

 The Qalutropis (jif/antea, or Muduh tree (Nat. Ord. Ascle- 

 piadaca?e), also yields a like substance. 



In America, both north and south, various so-called "milk- 

 weeds,'" as A^cfepias vfiticUlata. and other plants, such as 

 species of Bomha.r, &o., yield silk-cottons, whilst the ,45- 

 clepiiis syriaca obtained the attention of European agric- 

 ulturists as early as 17c55, and paper hiS been made from 

 the cortical fibres of this plant. The young shoots of the 

 plant too are said to equal asparagus in flavour. 



These are only a few of the plants yielding silk-cotton, 

 which might be meurioued. Silk-cotton -has made its ap- 

 pearance in the markets fi'om time to time, and in 1851, 

 the jurors of the Great Exhibition recommended this sub- 

 stance for stuffing purposes, and in mixed fabncs, and 

 notices respecting it have occasionally appeared in this 

 Jovraal. For the lining of quilts, quilted petticoats, &c., 

 silk-cotton seems t^ answer admirably, but its want of 

 cohesion, or non-felting qualities, renders it of no use for 

 spinning purposes, except as a mixture to impart a sillcy 

 gloss to the fabric so mixed. The price is low. it is light 

 in weight, elastic and soft, and is .-iaid to resist the attacks 

 of insects. — Jo-xi^a<d of ike Society af Art.<. 



Is THE Rhodot>en*drox PoisoNors ? — I observe that Dr. 

 Lindley {>Si/:>te^n of Jjotrtni/) says th&i Rhodofleudron ponti- 

 cuni is **■ venomous, " and it is often stated that honey 

 made from its flowers is poisonous,. I should be very glad 

 to know whether these assertions rest on good ground. 

 Mr. AA'ebber writes to the AifricuHwal Gazette (Nov. 19, 

 1883) that he has recently lost several sheep in conse- 

 quence fas he believes) of their having eaten the leaves 

 of Rhododendron. He does not state whether the remains 

 of Rhododendron leaves were found in the stomachs. I 

 observed here a few days ago that some lambs had been 

 eating leaves of Rhododendrons, either ponticuni. or hy- 

 birds of pouticum. The quantity eaten was not very large, 

 but no bad result has followed. The leaves are, I 

 believe, bitter, and as a general rule both slieep and cattle 

 let them aloue ; but it is a question of some importance 

 whether they are or are not poisonous, as it becomes a 

 question whether it is prudent to plant them in open 

 pastures, and also whether bets should be kept in places 



whf^re the shrub exists in abnud:'.' ]\-,i"v- .u.o knows 



that Xenoi>hon's soldier.s, on t" ; from 



Persia, snfteretl from t-riting hoi. made 



from the flowers of the 3 horloiliii! ^^ to be 



uncertain what shrub thf Gre* ' uame. 



Dr. Lindley says th:ifc it was A. . :t i.^ it 



not as — or more — likely that it was the wild Oleander? 

 The flower of this shrub is much more like that of a Rose 

 tree than is that of the Azalea, and it is said to be ex- 

 tremely poisonous. — Alkx. ^Esoi'n:.^Gar<fefi€rs^ Ch-onicle. 



Some experiments in manufactm-ing potash have been 

 made by Dr. AVarth at the Debra Dun Forest School, and 

 .>-,> .^ , r- .■ , i^ne^j s^i Tivood yielded 3 seers of potash. 



:, &c., IN Tahiti.— The cult;v:)tion of Tau- 

 1 eing carried on at the present time to 



ac yield amounting to between 2,000 lb. 

 aii'i .. ■' w .1). aiiiiually. In the matter of sugar, however, 

 the tju'oe or four small plantations at present worked are 

 sa^d to be iusutiicient to meet even the demands for home 

 consumption. Oranges, Limes, Coconut and other fruits 

 thrive with little ot no care or culture. — Gardeners- Chron- 

 icle. 



" The Tropical Agriccltobist. " — We have before us 

 the second volume of this publication, compiled by Messrs, 

 A. M. & J. Ferguson of Colombo. It is a vertitable raiut 

 of information for planters of coffee, tea, sugar, cinchona, 

 rubbers, and other tropicral products. The difficulty, as 

 in all simitar cases, will be for the practical man to 

 discriminate from all this mass what is real!}' of pra;;tical 

 use to htm. There are no better means than that this 

 jouninl affords of collecting and contrasting the experience 

 of_ different men under the same or tliffereut circumstances, 

 — Gdrtientrs' Chronicle. 



Teakwooo. — I understand, says a writer in the Garden^ 

 that some of our enterprising hdt-honse builders are intro- 

 ducing this wood into horticultural buildings, and it is 

 expected it will supersede pine to a considerable extf^nt. 

 It is li^'ht. strong, and durable, and not dithcult to work. 

 Teak briskets for orchitis are now common, aud gardeners 

 know how much m:ire lastiug they are than those of 

 hazel and other common woods. Lightness and elegance of 

 structure are important consideratinns in hot-houses in more 

 ways than one, and in this respect teak has the decided 

 advantage, for it enables the builder to dispense with heavy 

 rafters and beams, and is not much less durable than 

 iron, to which it is preferable in other respects. — Timhci' 

 Trades Journal. 



How Trees Skarch for "Water. — Mr. Daniell Swett, of 

 Bay Farm Island, has sent us a curious root formation of 

 the eucalyptus. It was found in the bottom of his well, 

 about 1(5 feet below the surface. The tree to which the 

 roots belonged stnnds 50 feet from the well. Two .shoots 

 pierced through the brick wall of the well, and sending 

 out Miillions of fibres, rormed a dense mat that completely 

 coverC'l the bottom of the well. Most of these fibres are no 

 larger than a thread, and are so woven and intertwisted as 

 to form a mat, as impenetrable and strong as though 

 regu'arl)" woven in a loom. The mat when first taken out 

 of the well was watersoaked and covered with mud. and 

 nearly all a man could lift. Now it is dry, aud almost as soft 

 ,to touch as wool, and weighs oidy a few ounces. This is 

 a good illustration of- how the eucalyptus absorbs moisture, 

 its roots goiu? so far as to find water, pushing themselves 

 through a brick wall, and then developing enormously after 

 the water is reached. Mr. Swett thinks one of the ciuses 

 of the drying up of wells is the insatiable thirst of these 

 vegetable monsters. — Alamedo. Arr/KS. 



Thi-: Cork Oak ix Nkw Zealand. — In a paper read 

 before the Auckland Institute, Mr Justice Gillies gives 

 the following particulars : — In lS^*o the late Dr. Sinclair 

 planted a young Cork Oak received from Kew. It is now 

 40 feet high, 14 fee+' iu bole, with a crown of about 40 

 feet iu diameter. The trunk at 3 feet from the ground 

 is now 5 feet 9 inches iu girth after stripping. For sev- 

 eral years it has px'oduced acorns, from which the present 

 occupant of the grounds, Mr. John Hay, has raised a 

 nuniticr of young oaks, and distributed them liberally 

 through New Zealand. In 1S77. I stripped the ;tree for 

 the first Jime, and got a large quantity of virgin cork, 

 which I did not weigh, the first stripping being of no 

 commercial value. In February last, I again stripped it, 

 nnn ;iri.'r ,!.■■ 'm-t the Kark found the product to be 70 lb 

 \ riarketable cork fit for pint corks, and 



s 'IS. per cw^. It will thus be seen that 



1, twi_nty-five to twenty-seven years old 



1 auy return, ami tln-n every five yeai's 



!:: _. J to 100 1b. weight of maketable cork. 



The produce improves iu quality with each strii^ping. On 

 comparing tlie New Zealand product ■nnth imported hrtrk, 

 it is e\'ideut that the annual growth of the bark in Auck- 

 land is equal to that pf the impor to. d.^Garde}i£rs^ Chronicle. 



