229 
the tree in Mr. Garnier’s garden at Bordighera. Through the 
kindness of Madame Vve. Charles Garnier, of the Villa Amica, 
Bordighera, we have been placed in correspondence with 
Sig. Giovanni Lanteri, President of the Societa d’Orticultura, 
E. M.S. della Liguria in San Remo, who has had the experiment 
of the acclimatisation of Pouteria suavis under his charge. In a 
letter to the Director of March 30, 1909, he informs us that he has 
grown the Pouteria in the gardens of the Villa Garnier since 1906. 
The seeds, which were received direct from Paysandu (Uruguay ) 
germinated readily, and at the present time 15 plants are flourishing 
in the gardens; these have resisted two degrees of frost in the 
open. e also mentions that he has acclimatised Lucuma neriijolia, 
Hook. and Arn. (Sapotaceae), which he is in hopes may serve as a 
“stock” for the Pouteria, as it is more hardy and vigorous. . 
A large consignment of the fruits of Pouteria was received at 
Kew from Sr. E. Frosio, Horticulturist, Salto, Uruguay, some of 
which were packed in wax and some in moist sawdust. e seeds 
packed in wax arrived apparently in excellent condition,. but the 
seeds failed to germinate. Of those packed in sawdust a large 
| has germinated, and the plants are now some ten inches 
Process of cleaning Rice in Lower Bengal.—The following note on 
this subject has been supplied by Captain Gage, Superintendent of 
the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta :— 
“Paddy (unhusked rice) is soaked in cold water for 24 to 
36 hours. It is then removed in a large earthen pot ‘ handy ’ and 
boiled with a little water—about half a seer (seer = 2 lbs.) in a 
‘handy ’ containing about ten seers of paddy—until some of the grains 
burst. The grains are then dried in the sun over a mat. The 
drying process is thought to be completed when the grains inside 
the husks become hard. The husks are then removed by a wooden 
machine called ‘ dheky ’.” 
he details of the subsequent treatment are well known, but the 
procedure above described is rarely alluded to in detail in works of 
reference. 
Flora of Bombay.—The final part of the second volume of Dr. 
Cooke’s Flora of Bombay completes the first to be commenced of 
the series of local Floras designed to supply for its different 
provinces the place filled as regards the Indian Empire as a whole 
by the Flora of British India. For different portions of the vast 
area dealt with by Sir J. D. Hooker and his colleagues separate or 
partial Floras have from time to time been published. The series 
now begun has been planned on definite lines to revise or supplement 
the larger work for local areas. The information there placed for 
the whole of India and Ceylon in a systematic form at the disposal 
of all interested in the vegetable wealth of those regions is thus 
being completed and brought up to date. 
® The Flora of the Presidency of Bombay, by Theodore Cooke, C.I.E., M.A.L., 
LL.D., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c 
