298 ODOROGRAPHIA. 
of uncultivated plant “outan.” On my enquiring of Mr. Wray, of 
the Government Museum at Perak, a confirmation of the meaning 
of the Malay word “ outan”’ as applied to this plant, he replied 
that it means “ jungle, or forest”? (consequently ‘‘ wild or uncul- 
tivated”), but adds that at Perak “the plant is not known in a 
wild state.’ From this I infer that the natives so value the plant 
that they always cultivate it, even if it be indigenous, as we should 
treat any useful plant indigenous to England ; the only alternative 
idea is, that it is not indigenous, but a possible introduction from 
China, and probably! from the neighbourhood of Canton. Dr. 
Wallich, in the ‘ Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society 
of Calcutta,’ 1835, says :—“ Baron Hiigel informs me that he has 
found a plant growing wild at Canton, which closely resembles 
that from Penang, cultivated in this Garden” (referring to the 
Patchouli). 
The information furnished by Mr. Wray respecting the cultiva- 
tion of the plant at Perak has been published in the ‘ Journal of 
the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India,’ and reprinted 
in the ‘ Kew Bulletin’ of June 1889, as follows :-— 
“The cultivation of patchouli is carried on almost exclusively 
by the Chinese in the Straits Settlements. They do not grow it 
on a large scale, but a man will plant a patch of perhaps } an acre 
or an acre at atime. The land is trenched and thrown up into 
long beds either 4 feet or 18 inches wide. The former will take 2 
rows of plants and the latter only 1. The plants are put 2 feet 
apart along the rows. The planting should be done in the wet 
season, and the cuttings, which are about a foot long, require 
careful shading with leaves until rooted, or they wither and die, 
the plant being delicate, and very susceptible to the heat of the 
sun. 
“The first cutting of the crop is made in about 6 months after 
planting, by which time the plants will have reached a height of 2 
or 3 feet, and two other cuttings are made from the same plants at 
intervals of about 6 months. At the end of this time the old roots 
are dug up, the land re-trenched and manured, and fresh cuttings 
planted. Both flat and bill lands are suitable to its cultivation, 
and it seems to flourish best under slight shade, but probably the 
production of oil is less in that grown under shade than in 
that grown out in the sun, though the yield of leaf would be 
greater. It is often planted on new land between coffee, nut- 
