346 
occidentalis. that “A sweetish substance resembling dextrin 
properties, exudes in 
in the trunk of this tree, 
and is gathered and eaten 
by the Indians.” Until 
exudation from the trunk 
or branches of this species 
in Great Britain, but dur- 
ing the present year the 
branches and trunks of 
young trees, about 10 years 
old, at Kew, have become 
encrusted with resin, which 
in the nary stages appears 
as small, transparent, 
ah 5 icbsloe The exu- 
dation has a_ slightly 
resinous taste but no 
sweetness can be de- 
abnormally fine weather experienced during the Bet) months or 
whether it will continue will be interesting to wate 
W..D. 
Coffee ( (Coffea arabica and commerical varieties) in Guatemala 
ul Cos ica.—A Report on a Visit to Guatemala and Costa 
Rica to Investigate Methods of Cultivation of Coffee and Its 
Diseases and Pests by Mr. A. D. Le Poer Trench, Senior Coffee 
Officer, Kenya Colony, has been received at Kew-from the 
Colonial Office, . It should prove of value to the planters in 
East Africa as the author includes useful information on the 
three much-discussed subjects of pruning, shade and manuring. 
Costa Rica and Guatemala Coffee usually occupy a prominent 
position in the market quotations and in the main the methods 
explained may: accordingly be relied on—though as rightly 
inferred in the report, no hard and fast rules can be laid down 
and certain variations — be advisable in accordance with 
local conditions. 
Under pruning, a new system called <f Agobiads” ”? is described 
as becoming very popular in Guatemala where it has been in 
operation for fifteen years, together with the old “ Capping” 
System (cutting or pinching out the top of the young plant when 
about 12-15 in. high) common also in Costa Rica. The name 
“ Agobiada ” means “bent over’? and under the system “no 
"capping or topping is ever done; the trees are left to grow any 
