304 



Solaniim Wrightii. — A specimen oi Solatium Wrightii^ Bentli., 

 Ivas teen received from Mr. C. J. Lucas, who lius collected it at 

 Ketito, about 60 miles from Nairolii, British East Africa, wliere 

 it formed a tree 20 ft. h^i^h.^ witli tlie brandies spreading 15 ft., 

 and was known as the ^' Tree Tomato/' It was first described 

 by Bentbam in the Flora Hongkongensis, p. 243 (1861), from 

 material obtained from the Murray Barracks, Hong Kong, by 

 Charles Wright, naturalist to the United States North Pacific 

 Exploring Expedition, during his visit there in 1854, and was 

 then known as the '^Potato Tree/' The ground on which th 

 barracks stood has now been built over and the tree probably 

 destroyed, as specimens have not been sent by any subsequent 

 collector. It has since been ascertained to be a native of Bolivia, 

 whence specimens were received at Kew from Pearce, who col- 

 lected it on the banks of the Amantala and called it the ^^ Egg 

 Tree,^' and at Guanai by M. Bang, Carriere, who published a 

 good coloured figure of the plant in the Revue Horticole, 1867, 

 p. 132, confused it with G. Tnacranthum, but it differs totally from 

 the two Brazilian species of that name described by Dunal and 

 Hooker respectively, DunaPs plant is imperfectly known, w^hile 

 Hooker's has been reduced to S, maroniensej Poit, A third 

 species described under the name S. macranthu'm by Martens 



and Galeotti is the Mexican #S. porphyranthum, Dun, 



c. H. w. 



Cauto Cotton* — A brief account of this important plant was 

 given in Kew Bull 1914, pp. 198-199. The following additional 

 particulars are furnished by Mr. W- Harris, Superintendent of 

 Public Gardens and Plantations, Jamaica, in a letter dated July 



16th, 1914 :• 



dry districts. Here, at Hop 



2 



to be a 



planted in the middle of August last, and the crop was picked 



600 lbs. of seed 



''The plants are growing at 8 feet by 8 feet, and had they been 

 planted at 4 feet by 4 feet for the first year and then thinned out to 

 8 feet by 8 feet the yield would have been mucli heavier. They 

 are now bearing a fine ratoon crop, and il is said that they yield 

 good crops for at least three years. 



''There are 50 acres of this crop on the limestone in Lower 

 Clarendon, an exceedingly hot and dry district, and they have 

 made excellent growth, even better than ours at Hope where the 

 Boil is a light gravelly alluviaL 



/' The yield of lint from some of the Clarendon cotton was 

 36 per cent., and the 1914 crop has been sold in U.S.A. at 18 cents 

 per lb., whilst the ratoon cotton grown in Cuba and ginned in 

 Jamaica was marlcedly superior to the plant staple and fetched 

 ?5 cents per lb/* 



