Vol.. XI, No, 266. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



213 



PHOENIX CANARIENSIS. 



As it name indicates, this palm is a native of the Canary 

 Islands. Plioenix canariensis i^i, however, now grown in 

 other parts of the world as an ornamental plant, for which 

 purpose it is especially fitted bj* the possession of leaves that 

 have been described as: 'rich-green fronds like enormous 

 ostrich plumes:' it resembles the date ]'a'ni {F. dactvh'th-a), 

 but has a larger numter of leaves and is more slender and 

 graceful in appeaiance. A variety {P. canai'temis, var. 

 Tnacrocarjia) is sometimes cultivated. 



An illustration is given on this page of a plant of 

 P. canariensis which is to be seen growing in the Dominica 

 Botanic Gardens. This was also figured in the last Annual 

 Eeport (1910-11) on the llotanic Station, Dominica. 



According to Bailey {Cydnjvudia of American llarti- 

 cultiire), a hybrid between P. cavariensis and an Indian 

 species of Phoenix — P. sylvestns — is highly prized among 

 American horticulturists. It may be useful to state that 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMBRYO CHICK. 



Twelve hours after incubation has begun, the ligaments of 

 the head and body are discovered. Close observation has 

 found the heart to beat by the close of the day. At the end of 

 forty eight hours two vesicles of blood are distinguished, the 

 pulsations of which aie visible. At the fiftieth hour, an auri- 

 cle of the heart appears. At the end of seventy hours, the 

 outlines of wings, and on the head two 'bubbles' for the brain, 

 one for the bill, and two others for the forepart and the hind- 

 part of the head appear. The liver appears toward the fifth day. 

 At the end of one hundred and thirty-six hours, the first vol- 

 untary motion is observed. Seven hours later the lungs and 

 stomach become visible, and the intestines, the loins and the- 

 U|)per jaw are seen at the end of one hundred and forty-eight 

 hours. The seventh day, the brain, which is slimy, begins to 

 have some consistence. 



At the one hundred and ninetieth hour of incuba- 

 tion the bill opens and the flesh appears on the breast. 



Fi( 



4. r.ED-n;riTED Phoenix Cax.vp.iexsis; Domi.vka Rot.\xic G.\f.dens. 



the latter of these plant" is the wild date, or date sugar palm, of 

 India. This palm is very similar to the ordinary or edible, 

 date palm mentioned above; in fact it is .so closely related 

 that some hold the opinion that the Uttir was derived 

 from P. si/lvcstris, ^vhile others think that P. si/lcestris 

 is a variety of /-". dactylifera growing under somewhat 

 unfavourable conditions. In accordance with what is 

 stiggested in its name, the date sugar palm is used as 

 a source of sugar. The industry of obtaining the sugar, 

 or jaggery (gur) as it is called, is followed on an extensive 

 scale in India, where the juice is obtair.ed by tapping the 

 trees and is then boiled down to form the jaggery which is 

 usually sold to refiners. 



Pieturning to the consideration of ornamental species of 

 Phoenix, it should be stated that there are several of these, 

 besides P. canarier.sis, among which P. rupicola ma_v be 

 mentioned. This plant, in its wild stale, is found in India. 



Four hours after that the sternum, that is to say tht? 

 breast bone, is seen. At the two hundred and tenth hour, 

 the ribs come out of the back, the bill is visible, as well as 

 the gall-bladder. The bill becomes green at the end of two 

 hundred and thirty six hours. About four hours later the- 

 fi-athers begin to shoot out and the skull becomes gristly. 

 The eyes ajipear at the two hundred and sixty-fourth hour; 

 and at the two hundred and eighty eighth hour the ribs are 

 perfect. At the three hundred and thirty-first hour the 

 spleen draws near to the stomach, and the lungs and the 

 chest. At the end of three hundred and fifty-five hours, the 

 bill frequently opens and shuts, and at the end of four 

 hundred and fiftj'-one hours, or the eighteenth day, 

 the first cry of the chick is heard. (In the Bulletin of 

 the Bureau of Aaricultural Intelligence and of Plant 

 Diseases, April 1911, from the Poultry Advocate, Toronto, 

 December 1911.) 



