142. Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



be published iu the forthcoming volume) I shall merely call 

 your attention to two recent noticeable successes in the culti- 

 vation of remarkable plants in our colonies ; one being that of 

 the date-palm (Phoinix dactylifera) in the West Indies (An- 

 tigua), where it now bears ripe fruit, and, no doubt, will 

 ere long become an article of commerce ; and one being 

 the magnificent water-lily (Victoria regia) of the Eiver Amazon, 

 that has lately flowered at Sydney, though many years ago 

 (1849-50) it flowered in its big tanks at the Eoyal Gardens, 

 Kew, and also in the private gardens of the Duke of Devon- 

 shire and the Duke of Northumberland, when it was fully 

 described by the late Sir William Hooker. (Of this remark- 

 able plant I hope to show you by-and-by some lai'ge coloured 

 drawings from Sir W. Hooker's magnificent work, together 

 with some interesting extracts from the writings of its 

 fortunate early discoverers.) 



I have especial reasons for calling j^our attention to the 

 date-palm, it being one of the oldest-known cultivated plants 

 yielding food for man ; its fruit is also well known here. 

 This plant and the banana, Musa sajnentum (of which I read 

 a paper here two years ago),* are the only two prehistorical 

 fruit-producing plants. The date-palm flourishes in Egypt, 

 Nubia, Morocco, Persia, and Arabia, and even India, and is 

 now, as ever, commonly used by a very large number of man- 

 kind, and that, too, in its native country, in a far more 

 economical and useful manner than it is here by us, we only 

 eating the fleshy part of the fruit, rejecting the hard seeds or 

 stones, which are also used by the Arabs for food; for, hard 

 and dry as they appear, they are ground into a kind of coarse 

 meal, on which the goats and camels feed with greediness, and 

 in the longest marches across the desert neither man nor 

 beast require other food, if they have also a little water or 

 camel's milk to allay their thirst. And, as the banana has of 

 late years been naturalised and extensively cultivated in some 

 of our British colonies, and thus become an article of com- 

 merce, so, it is hoped, in due time the date will also be. 

 Although the date-palm is frequently mentioned in the Bible 

 (particularly in the Old Testament), and always with approval, 

 yet, curiously enough, there is not an instance of its being 

 spoken of as producing a fruit valued as a food for man. 



I should not pass unnoticed two great events of this pre- 

 sent year, which have been much talked of, one being natural 

 and sure, and one dependent on the hardihood and ability of 

 man. The former is a remarkable total eclipse of the sun, 

 which M'ill take place on the 8th-9th of August, but, unfortu- 

 nately for us, will not be visible here in New Zealand. Its 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst,, vol. xxvi., p. 334. 



