274 General Notices. 



have repotted your plant, you find the pot feels as heavy as lead — that water 

 applied to the surface stops there, and only gradually disappears — you may 

 be sure your labor has been thrown away ; for no plant will remain healthy 

 in such a mass of clay. On the other hand, if the mould feels elastic when 

 pressed down, and water applied runs rapidly through it, your work may 

 be considered properly done. What is called good garden mould, with 

 about one-third its bulk in rotten leaves, and one-third of coarse sand, will 

 make a compost adapted to general purposes. 



Many gardeners mistake the requirements of plants by seeking for what 

 they call fine mould; and some sift it, to secure this fancied advantage. 

 Coarse lumps, and even stones, will be of use rather than otherwise in keep- 

 ing the drainage clear. Every pot should also have about two inches of 

 broken crockery put into the bottom of it. For the same reason, water 

 should always be supplied in very small quantities. As much as will 

 moisten, without running through, should, if possible, be given, since every 

 portion beyond that washes the soil of its best properties. — Gardeners'' 

 Chronicle, 1848, p. 268. 



Sarawak, [Java,) — Its Soil, Climate, c^c. — Mr. Low describes the soil of 

 Sarawak as a strong, rich, yellow loam, covered, to a depth of from six 

 inches to a foot, with black and very productive vegetable mould. The 

 sugarcane attains great perfection without the slightest cultivation. Nut- 

 meg, planted for experiment, grew remarkably well, as also did the cinna- 

 mon and clove. The cabbage palm is the most esteemed vegetable pro- 

 duced in the island. The yet unopened fronds of a strong growing fern, a 

 species of Marattia, when boiled, form an excellent vegetable, much pre- 

 ferred by European residents. The shoots of the bamboo are also an es- 

 teemed vegetable, and, in the hands of the Europeans, make a most ex- 

 cellent pickle. Among the other more useful vegetable productions, Mr. 

 Low mentions the cocoa nut, sago palm, gomuti palm, betel, rice, &c. Of 

 vegetable productions collected for exportation, there are, Barus camphor, 

 the produce of Dryobalanops camphora, which grows to a very large size. 

 Vegetable tallow, or vegetable wax, a fatty oil obtained by the compres- 

 sion of tlie nuts of some species of Dipterocarpus ; the species most valued 

 attains the height of forty feet; the fruit is as large as a walnut, and 

 yields a large proportion of oil, which, in England, has proved far to sur- 

 pass olive oil for lubricating steam machinery. There are several other 

 oil-producing plants. The seeds of the niato, or gutta percha, produce 

 edible oil of a fine quality. The substance gutta percha, is more properly 

 gutta suban — the percha being an inferior article ; the tree is found in all 

 the forests of the peninsula of Malacca, of Borneo, Singapore, and the ad- 

 jacent i^!ands. Jintawan is a substance similar in all respects to caout- 

 chouc, and is the produce of a climbing plant of the genus Urceola, the 

 thick, soft bark of which, on being cut, emits the sap in the greatest abun- 

 dance, and without destroying the tree ; there are three kinds in Borneo ; 

 the fruit is one of the most grateful of the country to the European palate. 

 The celebrated Upas tree, Antiaris toxicaria, is found on the island, but 

 not coHimon : the poisonous sap flows freely from the bark when tapped. 



