llil-: oSTKICIL KliATlll-:K lM»^^•n^^. -'JlJ 



means by which ihe best areas of arid land have been converted 

 nnder irrigation into highly prodnctive fodder-prodncing areas, 

 which, even if the indnstr} were to fail, would be of incalculable 

 value as fodder-producing areas for any class of farming. 



( )strich feathers have, for centuries, been used for pur- 

 poses of adornment, first by men and afterwards by women, 

 and as the feather is an article of great beauty, it wall un- 

 doulitedly always be considered as an article of adornment by 

 the ladies throughout the world, thougli. like all fashions, it is 

 likely to have its ups and downs ; but an industry which in 48 

 years has risen from an export value of £65,000 to £2.750,000 

 will never ])e allowed, by those concerned, to go to the wall, 

 and it behoves us in South Africa, who have profited to the 

 extent of all our greatest irrigation schemes, and most of our 

 o^c^od fencing, to support and forward the interests of this indus- 

 trv in such a manner that it will always remain on a firm and 

 well-established basis. 



Latices from South African Plants.— ihe 



Biillrlin of the / inf'cruil /iislitiifc records* a number of investiga- 

 tions into the nature of sam])les of latex received from dififerent 

 parts of South Africa and derived from various plants. In ]jrac- 

 tically every case these latices contailed large cjuantities of resin 

 and little of true caoutchouc, and the " rubber '" whicli tliev 

 yielded was sticky and did not show the ])h\sical characteristics 

 of true rubber. .Some crude latex of lutf^Jiorhhi Tinicalli from 

 Natal contained, in the conditicjn in wliich it was received in the 

 Imperial Institute. 51.2 i)er cent, of resin and i).y ])er cent, of 

 caoutchouc. Various tests \\ere made with tlie resin and ])roved 

 it to be unsuitable for making varnishes. ( )n dr\' distillation the 

 resin behaved like colophony, but it has not yet J)een determined 

 whether the ])rotlucts are similar to those ol)tained from colo- 

 phony, and wliether they could be used for sinnlar ])urposes. 

 Two sam])k's were received from Rhodesia: one of tliese was 

 the coagulated latex of the " Tshizimboti " tree, but the s])eci- 

 mens of the " tree " Avhich accompanied the samj^le of latex 

 were found to rej^resent two dififerent species of F.upliorhia. 

 This latex also yielded a resin closely reseml)ling the other 

 Euphorbia resins ])rcviously examined. The other Rhodesian 

 sample was a rubber-like substance. a])parently derived from 

 FicKS iililis '>'vu. It contained more caoutchouc and less resin 

 than the material derived from Euphorbia Tirucalli, and was 

 therefore su]:)erior to the latter. The coagulated latex of Coiio- 

 pharyiu/ia clcgaus from the Transvaal was also examined. Ilere 

 again the sample was found to be ver\- resinous, and it showed 

 but little elasticity or tenacity. It was valued at ,^d. per II) in 

 Etiro])e. a price at which its collection in the Transvaal is hardlv^ 

 likelv to l)e renmnerative. 



* (1915) 13, 361-372. 



