B6 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Aug. 2, 1886. 



THE COLONIAL EXHIBITION. 



British ItHiaxa, — The coUectiou from this colony 

 is closely contiguous to that from the West Indies. 

 The entrance to the court is flanked on either 

 side by magnificient squared trunks of green-heart 

 (Nectaiidra Eodirei) and INIora (Diniorphandra Mora, 

 better known as Mora excelsa). The first of these 

 is one of the tallest of the forest trees of the Guiana 

 forests, growing in clay soil near the rivers and creeks. 

 liOgs, it is said, can be obtained from Is — 34 inches 

 square and 70 feet long- (rrecnheart is one of the 

 most durable woods known, and it is one of the eight 

 first-rlass woods at l^loyds. It is used for ship's keels, 

 and other timbers for lioiise framing, mill timbers, 

 wharves, and, indeed, for ahnost every purpose where 

 great strength and durability are necessary. The bark 

 is well known in medicine under the name of Bee- 

 beru bark, and is the source of the alkaloid Beeberine, 

 which is used as a tonic and ferbrifuge in jjlace of 

 quinine. The seeds are also used medicinally by the 

 natives in cases of diarrhioa, and when ground mixed 

 with other meal are used as food in times of scarcitj'. 

 The Mora is an extremely strong and durable wood, 

 and is not only used extensively for outdoor work 

 and ship-building, but also makes good durable furni- 

 ture, though somewhat too heavy for ordinary kinds. 

 Several varieties of the trees are known in different 

 localities, each having a distinct name. The tree grows 

 to a height of 200 feet, and logs can be squared 24 

 inches. The bark is used medicinally in dysentery 

 and also for tanning, and the large seeds are ground 

 to a meal, ond mixed with Cassava as an article of 

 food. 



Besides the two woods here mentioned, 'which are 

 the principal timbers of the British Guiana forests, 

 there are many others of very great value, the bota- 

 nical source of a large number of which is unfor- 

 tunately still unknown. An excellent collection of 

 some seventy-eight samples of the woods of the colony 

 are exhibited by jNIessrs. Park cfc Cunningham, of George- 

 town, whose aim is to bring them to the notice of 

 English cabinet-makers with a view of introducing 

 them to the English commerce. By far the most 

 beautiful wood for cabinet-work, however, is the Letter- 

 wood (Brosimum Aubletii), which has a reddish-brown 

 ground iind black wavy markings representing letters, 

 or i-ather the marking of a leopard skin. This wood 

 is valuable for inlaying and for making choice walk- 

 ing-sticks ; it is hard, and takes a splendid polish. 

 The tree is not abundant, and in the largest trees 

 the heartwood, which is the figured part, is but small 



a tree of 2(1 inches diameter, having only 7 inches 



of heart. Two telegraph poles of "Wallaba (Eperua 

 fdlcata), as prepared for use in Georgetown, are ex- 

 hibiteil. These posts, it is stated, do not require treat- 

 ment with tar or other preservative, and last from 

 fifteen to twenty years, even when placed in marshy 

 situations where they are surrounded with water for 

 weeks together. The trees are very plentiful, and 

 grow to an average height of SO feet. 



Besides woods themselves, wood products are also 

 largelj' shown, notably the "Woodskin canoes which 

 the Indians make from a single piece of bark stripped 

 from the trunks of Hymen:ei courbaril, or the Locust 

 Tree, and from the Purple Heart (Copaifera pubiflora), 

 and C. bracteata. These canoes are sometimes made 

 large enoagh to accommodate fifteen or sixteen 

 persons. 



Amongst food products of the colony, those of the 

 bitter Cassava plant (Manihot utilissinia) deserve a 

 notice. Oas'java meal, Cassava bieid, and Oassareep 

 are all fully illustrated. They are described as " very 

 important articles in the cookery of the Indians, 

 the former being the 'staff of life,' and the latter its 

 sauce. Oassareep is the principd ingredient in th*^ 

 famous 'pepper pots,' and may le used as a sauce in 

 European cooliery." Cassareep does indeed come to 

 this country, usually in ordinary black wine bottles, 

 and forms an excellent adjunct to ttews and hashes. 

 Heme remarkably fine .samples of B.)lata are ex- 

 hibited. This substance, it will be remembered, has 

 been recently treated of in an elaborate and exhaiistive 



report by Mr. Jenman, the Government Botanist of 

 British Guiana. It is intermediate in character 

 between gutta-percha and 'ndia-iubber. It has very 

 great strength, and as it does not stretch under ten- 

 sion it is unequalled for machine-bands and similar 

 purposes. On the whole, the British Guiana collec- 

 tion is one of much interest. 



Hong Kong. 

 This collection does not contain anything very 

 striking from a botanical point of view. There is 

 a good collection of eighty-six specimens of Chinese 

 woods, which were collected and named by Mr. 

 Charles Ford, of the Ijotanical Garden, Hong Kong. 

 There is also a fine collection of the now well-known 

 China matting, which Dr. Haast has shown is 

 made of the culms of Cyperus tegetifoimis, the 

 varieties of designs and patterns of which are, for 

 the most pait, extremelj' good. The nnmerous 

 applications of rattans and bamboos for a variety 

 of articles of domestic use are also of considerable 

 interest ; besides which there is an extensive collec- 

 tion of Chinese drugs, a large number of n'hich are 

 of vegetable origin ; they are, however, not in a very 

 satisfactory condition, either with regard to the 

 specimens themselves or their labels. — Ganhmrn' 

 Chronicle. 



ESPARTO AND DATE PALM IN 

 TUNIS. 



Consul-General Playfair has recently furnished to 

 the Foreign Office a very interesting report of a 

 consular tour along the coast of Tunis in October and 

 November last, from which we abstract the following 

 notes. Writing of Susa, Mr. Playfair says the prin- 

 cipal articles of export are olive oil and Alfa or Es- 

 parto-grass. The trade in this latter, it is said, ought 

 to be the most important on the coast, but it is being 

 rapidly annihilated, owing to the unwise restrictions 

 placed upon it by the Tunisian government. This 

 valuable fibre is found in Algeria, Tunis, and Tiipoli. 

 It was first brought into use by Mr. Lloyd, owner of 

 the J)ai!j/ Chronicle, who had an establishment at ( )ran, 

 and up to the present time the trade has remained 

 almost entirely in the hands of the English. In Algeria 

 it is encouraged in everj' way. Two lines of railwaj' 

 have been constructed to convey it to the coast. 

 Nearly 100,000 tons a year are exported, and there is 

 no duty whatever on it. In Tripoli also, which ex- 

 ports 00,01)0 tons per annum, it is free. In Tunis, 

 on the other hand, the duty is most onerous, and, 

 strange to say, not uniform at all the ports The 

 most highly taxed is that shipped at Rusa, as the 

 fibre there is erroneously assumed to be of better 

 qua'ity than that of Sfax. 



Keferring to the Lotus of the ancients, Consul 

 Playfair says: — "Much controversy has arisen regard- 

 ing the plants which so enchanted strangers as to 

 tempt them to desert their companions and their father- 

 land. The passage in the Odt/ssey (ix. 90) is as 

 follows: — 'On the tenth day we set foot on the land 

 of the Lotus eaters. . . . Now when we had tasted 

 meat and drink, I sent forth certain of my company 

 to -go and make search what manner of men they 

 were who live here upon the earth by bread, and I 

 chose out two of my fellows and sent a third with 

 them as a herald. Then straightway tliey went and 

 mingled with the men of the Lotus eaters, and so it 

 was that the Lotus eaters devised not death for our 

 fellows, but gave them of the Lotus to taste. Now 

 whosoever of them did eat the honej'-sweet fruit of 

 the Lotus had no more wish to bring tidings nor to 

 come back, but there he chose to abide with the 

 Lotus-eating men, ever feeding on the Lotus and 

 forgetful of his homeward way.' 



" JNIost writers have been content to follow Shaw, 

 generally the most accurate of observers, who iden- 

 tifies the Lotus with the aeedra of the Arabs, the 

 jvjuhe or fruit of the Zizyphus. The wilil variety is 

 the common scrub of the country near Algiers, where 

 Shaw resided ; it becomes less common as we approach 

 the south, and I neither saw nor could I hear of 



