248 



An analysis of the Guungo as made by Professor J B. Harrison of 

 Demerara was published in the Botanical Bulletin 1901, p. 154. This, 

 as the analyst has since pointed out, ignored the fact that cattle and 

 and horses only digest the pods while the seeds are excreted entire. 



In a recent report Professor Harrison has published separate an- 

 alyses of the seed and the pods, and although the Demerara Quango 

 varies greatly from that grown in the Liguanea plain in Jamaica, the 

 main point is brought out by both analyses that the pods are greatly 

 infeiior to the seeds in nitrogenous matter and that, in practice, the 

 Guango is liy no means so rich a nitrogenous food as would appewr 

 from the composition of the entire fruit, s eds and pod. Our samples 

 averaged pods to seed as 5 to 1. 



The pods contain a good deal of glucose and a moderate proportion 

 of albuminoid^ only. Could the seeds bn ground up a high-class 

 cattle-feed should result. One of the difficulties is that of the sticky 

 c insistency of the pulp of the pods, which would make the process of 

 milling somewhat difficult. It, is probable, however, that if the pods 

 were thoroughly dried before being milled that a satisfactory result 

 would follow. 



Memorandum re Guvngo. {Bi/ J. Barclay.) 



Trees dr^p their leaves in January. 



Fruit ripens March to May ; drops when full ripe unless it is blown 

 off by breeze. Eaten greedily by cattle and horses ; latter as with 

 mangoes, reject most of the seed in chewing, but former eat all, and 

 seed passes through and the droppings a month later may be seen 

 covered with sprouting seedlings. This is by far the best way indeed 

 to establish a nursery of young plants to secure young seedlings. 



Guango is a rich and cloying food, and when any other fodder is 

 availabh* cows and horses will, as a rule, only eat a little at a time, then 

 go to drink and eat something else. \Vhen plenty of water is avail- 

 able at will for stock, they may live on i' almost entirely for a month 

 to two months, drinking freely all the time, but if water is scarce the 

 seeds may then block the stomach or intestines and cause illness ; but as 

 the guango does not last in season vt ry long and ceases with the rains, 

 a diet chiefly consisting of it, is not generally continued long enough to 

 do harm as the ^ oung springing grass following is very laxative in 

 effect. Some people (and it ought to be done to a much wider extent 

 1 hat none should be wasted) gather the guango and store it, feed- 

 iig it for months after it is out of se isoii. Tons of it, fiowever, are 

 wasted and s ock keepeis, buying corn and oats at 5s. a bushel, crush 

 the valuable pods under tneir f^et every day. There is a difficulty in 

 curing it because of its saccharine con ent easily causing fermentation 

 when it is siored, and it does not dry up and cure like corn, exposed to 

 the sun in the pod. The reme iy I think is to crush it and dry it into 

 a meal, and it needs a hot dry place to do this quickly. An artificial 

 driet should work best. 



