EXPERIMENTAL AND ANALYTICAL WORK 



1585 



Table III. — Chemical examination of tambookie grass from the Transvaal 

 and papyrus from Zuliiland. 



acid. They were valued at £12 to £14 per ton on a normal London 

 market. 



Tepar>' beans are said to be specially adapted to drv' situations where 

 other beans do not succeed, as they will bloom and set seed during periods 

 of extreme heat, yielding a crop about four times as large as would be 

 obtained from the kidney bean (P. vulgaris). The sample received from 

 Burmah was in good condition ; it contained no alkaloids or cyanogenetic 

 glucosides and compared favourably with haricot beans with regard to 

 food value (Table II) . On a normal London market it should be worth 

 £10 a ton. 



Voandzeia subterranea beans from the Sudan. — V. stibterranea is a le- 

 guminous plant widely cultivated in tropical Africa for its seeds which 

 form an article of native diet. Specimens of the beans from the Nor- 

 thern Provinces, Nigeria and from Zanzibar were examined at the Impe- 

 rial Institute some years ago (i) ; the present samples were of rather bet- 

 ter quality. Their composition is given in Table II. The}- contain no 

 cyanogenetic glucosides or alkaloids and could be used for making com- 

 pound foods at a price of about £4 per ton. 



Water-melon seeds from tlie Sudan. — Water melons [Citrullus vulgaris) 

 are cultivated on a considerable scale in Kordofan Province and 

 a sample of the seeds was sent for examination to the Imperial Institute 

 with a view to finding a market for them in London. The seeds contained 



(i) See B. ifjiJi Nos. i and 5. 



{Ed.) 



