125 
Another factor to be taken into consideration is that Cascara 
bark should be at least one year gathered before it is used. 
There is every probability that the price of this drug will rise 
considerably. In 1908 the world’s consumption was said to be 
two millions of pounds anntally, which means that 200,000 trees 
would have to be destroyed yearly to maintain the supply. As no 
steps are being taken in America to renew the trees, it is evident 
that the natural supplies must fail within a limited ti As 
Cascara Sagrada is a most valuable laxative with unique properties, 
it appears likely that the demand for it would continue with greatly 
enhanced prices 
An interesting question is whether some means of utilising the 
younger parts of the tree, say the one- or two-year-old shoots, can 
be devised, which would leave the tree as a whole uninjured. € 
year-old bark is said to be equal in medicinal value to that on older 
wood, and if the tree were grown in plantations whence an annual 
crop of branchlets could be taken, its cultivation and utilisation 
would be much simplified and cheapened. 
XIX.—MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
Mr. A. H. Kirpy, B.A., Scientific Assistant, Imperial Depart- 
ment of Agriculture for the West Indies, has been appointed by 
the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Assistant Director of 
Agriculture in Southern Nigeria. 
Mr. F. W. Souru, B.A., Mycologist and Agricultural Lecturer, 
Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies, has been 
appointed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Chief 
Agricultural Inspector, Federated Malay States. 
Mr. T, D. Marrianp, Curator in the Agricultural Department, 
Southern Nigeria (K. B. 1910, p. 64), has been appointed by the 
Secretary of State for the Colonies a District Agricultural Officer 
in the Uganda Protectorate. 
Larix occidentalis.—It may be of interest to put on record for 
future reference the making of a plantation of this larch in the 
grounds of Queen’s Cottage at Kew. In February, 1909, a parcel 
of seed was presented to Kew by Mr. A. Henry. The seeds 
germinated well, and about 600 plants were raised in the Arboretum 
nursery. Having reached a size at which it became ‘necessary to 
find permanent quarters for them, it was decided to make a planta- 
tion in the Queen’s Cottage Grounds, where one of the clumps of 
* miscellaneous trees was cleared away for the purpose. Some 400 
trees were put out on March 12th and 13th, 1913, on a piece 
ground one-third of an acre in extent, which enabled the young 
trees to be set out about 6 feet apart. Except for a liability to be 
injured by late spring frosts, which causes a number of “leaders” _ 
to form instead of one, these young larches are succeeding well at 
