February 3, 1885,] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



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TROPICAL AFRICAN MOUNTAIN FLORA. 



A very interesting collection of planta has been brought 

 to Kew by that intrepid African explorer Mr. Joseph 

 Thomson, made during his late journey into the Masai 

 country. They have been examined by Prof. Oliver, and 

 consist of about thirty-five species from Kilimanjaro at 

 9,000 to 10,000 feet of elevation; a few from a crater near 

 Lake Nairasha at 7.0(10 to 8,000 feet elevation; thirty-four 

 from the Kapte plateau at 5,000 to 6,000 feet ; and fifty- 

 eight from Lykipia at 6,000 to 8,000 feet. 



These collections exhibit the mingling of North Temp- 

 erate types with others characteristic of Southern Africa, 

 for which previous discoveries had prepared us. Of these 

 the most interesting are, as new to Tropical Africa, an 

 Anemone, a Delphinium (very different from the Abys- 

 sinian D. dasycaulon), and aCerastium of remarkable habit. 

 Of South African forms the most striking is the handsome 

 arborescent Rutaceous plant, Calodendron capense, the " wild 

 chestnut" of Natal, to the north of which it had not pre- 

 viously been found. Or northern forms is a Juniper, 

 another genus unknown to Tropical Africa, and which was 

 found forming groves at an elevation of 8,000 to 8,000 feet, 

 and itself attaining a height of 100 feet! it is the J. 

 procera of Abyssinia. A Poilocarpns gathered along with 

 the Juniper, and also attaining 100 feet in height, is prob- 

 ably the P. elonyata of Abyssinia, which, or a near ally, 

 also occurs in South Africa. The only other Conifer pre- 

 viously found in the equatorial regions of Africa is the 

 Podocarpus Munnii from the peak of St. Thomas in the 

 Gulf of Guinea. — J. D. Hooker. — N tivre. 



THE RUBBER TRADE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM 



AS SHOWN BY OFFICIAL STATISTICS 



FOR 1883. 



During the five years ending with 1883 the total value 

 of the rubber imports and exports (taken together) has 

 steadily augmented. While it was computed at £3,923,175 

 in 1879, it reached £6,899,54S in 1883. On the whole, this 

 increase may be regarded as satisfactory, though the ex- 

 ports, as we shall presently show, have not been all that 

 could be desired. 



In the returns for 1883, the figures representing the 

 importation of " caoutchouc " (in its raw state) claim es- 

 pecial attention, and for two reasons. In the first place, 

 they show a considerable increase over those for previous 

 years ; in 1879 only 150,601 cwt. of o»outchouc, valued at 

 £1,626,290, were imported ; while in 1883 the quantity was 

 229,101 cwt., valued at £3,652,817. The advance is still 

 more apparent when the totals of 1S82, viz., 181,726 owt., 

 valued &l £2,751,092, are taken into account. A second 

 feature iu the return for last year is the addition to the 

 list of countries from which rubber has been imported 

 of several States which had not hitherto been specially 

 named, their identity having been lost by their inclusion 

 under the vague and general headings of " Other Countries," 

 " West Coast of Africa (Foreign)," &c. 



The returus indicating the importation of " manufactures 

 of caoutchouc " into the United Kingdom are full of 

 meaning and significance. As in previous years, Germany 

 continues to pour her rubber goods into this country in 

 rapidly-increasing quantities, the imports from that country 

 having risen from 747,60S lb., valued at £72,716, iu 1882, 

 to 1,310,547 lb., valued at £125,483, iu 1883. The total amount 

 of the importation of manufactures of caoutchouc into 

 the United Kingdom last year was 2,073.374 lb., valued 

 at £211,408, as against 798,7721b., valued at £87,591, in 

 1879. 



Compared with 1S82, there is a decrease in the import- 

 ation of guttapercha, the amount in 1883 being 63,800 cwt., 

 valued at £476.881; in the first-named year it was com- 

 puted at 72,936 cwt., valued at £539,814. Imports of 

 "manufactures of Guttapercha" from all countries have 

 slightly increased — from 197 cwt., valued at £1,825, in 

 1882, to 375 cwt., valued at £3,331, in 1883.— Zndiarulber 

 and Guttapercha Journal. 



DISEASES OF FIELD AND GARDEN CROPS. 



EY WORTHIXGTON O. SMITH, F.L.S. 

 The author has not seen his way to accepting the proofs 

 ot so well-established a fact as the hetercecism of the 

 UfedinetT. Mr. Smith devotes a chapter to the consideration 

 of the subject, iu which he attempts to combat the irrefrag- 

 able evidence of the truth of this fact furnished us by 

 experiment. Such objections, to give but one example, 

 as that to the different periods orcupied by the cultivation- 

 experiments of different observers are not only of no 

 account, but Mr. Smith must surely know from his own 

 experience that the germination and further growth of 

 spores as well as seeds vary exceedingly in different 

 circumstances even under the same observer's hands. But 

 it would be beyond the scope of this review were I to 

 enter upon any defence of the existence of hetercecism 

 in the Uredinese. What is more particularly to be noticed 

 in this section of the book is a theory of the hereditary 

 nature of parasitic diseases. At p. 197 the author says: — 

 '• We have shown that plants invaded by Puccinia and 

 ^Ecidium carry an hereditary disease by which they are 

 saturated, and that the disease is capable of reaching the 

 seeds and reappearing in the youngest seedlings. Now, 

 if plants thus suffering from hereditary disease, and having 

 the latent germs of disease in every part of their organisation, 

 are experimented upon in an unnatural way, have spores 

 of fungi placed n< ar their organs of trauspiration, whose 

 germ-threads can pierce the epidermis or enter and choke 

 the stomata aud so reach their intercellular spaces, is it 

 not likely that this inoculating process may start into 

 activity the latent germs of disease?" 



This is illustrated by the "instance of a person con- 

 stitutionally subject to phthisis ^consumption): give that 

 person a oo!d and phthisis appears; but the same cold 

 will give rise to rheumatic fever with a second constitution, 

 aud scrofula with a third, according to the tendency of 

 the individuals to these disorders." Since Mr. Smith con- 

 siders the heterreeism of the Uredinet? as not proven in 

 6pite of the nature anil the amouut of the evidence, one 

 cannot help being profoundly astonished at the ease with 

 which he, even their own author, accepts such startling 

 speculations concerning the hereditary nature of the parasitia 

 diseases of plants. 



In the matter of the potato disease, Mr. Smith gives 

 a history of the whole subject, and a full description of 

 the oospores, which he claims to be those of the Phi/tophthora. 

 At p. 340 there is a sentence of some interest in view 

 of the above mentioned theory. 



'• It is quite possible, then, that just as every atom of 

 a mycelial thread of this fungus (potato fungus) will 

 continue its growth to a perfect form, so every atom of 

 a brokenup flagelluru — perfectly invisible to the eyes even 

 when the highest powers of the microscope are used — may 

 be capable of carrying the poison aud at length reproducing 

 the perfect form of the fungus in the potato plant." 



Everything is possible, but some things are undoubtedly 

 highly importable, and chief amon g these are those which 

 we have not the slighest grounds for suppeosing probable 

 Such is the case with this speculation since (to take the 

 flagelluir. only) in the first place it is not by an y means 

 certain, as the author indeed points out in the same 

 paragraph, that a flagellum breaks up at all, and in the 

 second it is quite unwarrantable on any known basis of 

 fact to suppose that its fragments are endowed with any 

 reproductive function. — George Murray. — Nature. 



" ROUGH ON CORNS." 

 Ask for Wells' "Hough on Corns." Quick relief, com- 

 plete, permanent cure. Corns, warts, bunions. W. E. 

 Smith & Co., Madras, .Sole Agents. 



RUBBER NOTES FROM THE REPORTS OF 



'BRITISH AND AMERICAN CONSULS. 

 Brazil. — Para and Amazon. — In a remarkably exhaust- 

 ive report on the commerce aud industries of Brazil by 

 the United States Consul-Geueral at Rio de Janeiro (Mr. 

 Andrews), for the year ending June 30th, 1S82, there is 

 an interesting account of the extraordinary growth of 

 the rubber industry. This, the report states, is the prin- 

 cipal resource of the two great provinces of the Amazon 

 Valley, Para and Amazon, and its product occupies the 

 third place in the national exports. Notwithstanding that 

 this is the case, it would appear that little care is taken 

 with a view to the rubber production being maintained as 

 it might be by the adoption of some effective means of 



