630 



NATURE 



\Oct. 30, 1879 



which M. Sibiriakof fitted out for the relief of the Vega. 

 The vessel left Yokohama on August i, and was lost on 

 August 5, near Nemora, at the north-eastern point of 

 the island of Yesso. The A. E. Nordenskjdld was com- 

 manded by Capt. Sengstake, an Arctic explorer of repute, 

 who, when called to this duty, had arranged to accom- 

 pany Dr. Otto Finsch in his expedition to the Pacific. 

 The crew consisted of picked Arctic sailors, and there 

 were also on board M. Gregorief, representing the Russian 

 Geographical Society, and Herr Dankelmann, of Leipsic, 

 the delegate of the Bremen Society. All on board were 

 saved and were stated to be returning to Yokohama. 



Dr. Oscar Lenz will shortly start on a tour to Marocco 

 by order of the German African Society. 



Les Missions Caiholiqties has published, in its last two 

 numbers, some notes on Assam and the neighbouring 

 countries, which have been furnished by a Roman 

 Catholic missionary. By a singular coincidence the 

 second instalment, containing an account of the Naga 

 tribes, appeared just at the time when news arrived of 

 Mr. Damant's murder in the Naga Hills. 



The new Bulletin of the Socidtd de Gdographie Com- 

 merciale, of Bordeaux, contains a paper of some interest, 

 by M. G. Revoil, entitled "Le Pays des (Jomalis- 

 Medjourtines," which is accompanied by an outline map 

 of that portion of Africa. 



The members of the Geographical Society of Algiers 

 held their first meeting in the Hotel de ViUe of that city 

 on October 22, to elect their officers. 



The just-published Bulletin (for August) of the Paris 

 Geographical Society, contains the itinerary of the Abbd 

 Desgodins, of his journey from Pa-tang to Ta-tsien-len 

 and back in 1877, and an account of the journeys of P^re 

 Duparquet in South Africa, by the Abbd Durand. There 

 are some interesting letters between Dr. Rohlfs, Dr. 

 Stecker, M. Duveyrier, and M. Marid Davy, concerning 

 observations made in North Africa by Dr. Stecker, on 

 electrical and other natural phenomena. 



Mr. Stanford has just published a large scale map 

 of Japan, which forms probably the best map of the 

 country now in existence. It has been compiled by Mr. 

 Knipping, whose official position in Japan has given him 

 exceptional advantages for obtaining the necessary mate- 

 rial. He has used the native Japanese surveys, which we 

 believe are wonderfully accurate, data collected during 

 his own extensive journeys in the country, travellers' 

 narratives, and consular reports. The map is on the 

 o^-oiv. uracciitccix .iiiiv.o i„ or, inch, and is creditable to 

 author and publisher, and certain to prove useful 10 all 

 who have dealings with the country. 



Mr. Edward F. Sandeman will shortly publish, 

 through Messrs. Griffin and Farran, an account of his 

 travels in South Africa, under the title of " Ten Months 

 in an Ox Waggon; Reminiscences of Boer Life." A 

 special feature of the book will be the description of the 

 horne life of the Boers and their chief characteristics, and 

 it will contain half-a-dozen chapters of shooting experi- 

 ences in the country to the far east of the Transvaal, with 

 accounts of the various big game of that region. A visit 

 to the gold fields is also described, and some account will 

 be given of the life of the miners. The volume will con- 

 tain a map of the country. 



KEW GARDENS 



TT is highly desirable that the public should be fully 

 -»• acquainted with the real objects of the establishment 

 of which we have the annual report before us, as a very 

 imperfect impression on the subject is prevalent. That 

 object is not simply to collect as many forms of vegetation 



«," Report of the Progress and Condilitn of the Royal Gardens at Kew 

 dunnj; the Year 1878." 



as admit of cultivation, with a view to facilitate the studies 

 of botanists, whether young or old, much less to make 

 mere collections of plants without any ulterior view ; but 

 while its unequalled herbarium and diligent staff are 

 enabled to promote botany as a science, it has in view 

 the rational recreation of multitudes and the accompany- 

 ing improvement in taste, from the familiarity with ex- 

 quisite forms and combination of colouring, aided by the 

 attendant prevalence of order in each department ; while 

 in an economic point of view there are facilities for the 

 investigation of diseases which affect our commerce or . 

 manufactures, unequalled facilities of diffusing through 

 our colonies productions which may prove of vast im- 

 portance to their interests, inquirers at home being able 

 at once, through the museum and its curator, to become 

 acquainted with matters in which their factories are more 

 or less concerned, and thus to obtain information which 

 in many cases has proved the source of national advan- 

 tage. At the same time there are great opportunities for 

 young cultivators gaining such a knowledge of the struc- 

 ture and intimate nature of plants as will not only be 

 useful to themselves and their employers, but which has 

 a tendency to improve by example the numerous tribe of 

 gardeners who are too often deficient in the very know- 

 ledge which is of the utmost importance to successful 

 cultivation. The interchange of plants and seeds also 

 is carried on to a great extent at Kew, which is now the 

 acknowledged ultimate medium for all communications 

 from abroad with reference to what may be called indus- 

 trial plants. The mass of correspondence which is 

 carried on in this very useful department is almost over- 

 whelming. Amongst other things, india-rubber plants, 

 coffee, and quinine-producing barks, have received pecu- 

 liar attention, respecting which interesting details will be 

 found in the report. The cinchona plantations, not less 

 than those of coffee, are every day of increasing import- 

 ance, much of which is due to our national estabhshment 

 at Kew. Not only have pains been taken to introduce 

 the most improved forms of the coffee-plant, but the 

 disease which is ravaging the coffee-plantations in Ceylon 

 has been diligently studied by Mr. Abbay, whose observa- 

 tions were commenced in Ceylon in company with Mr. 

 Thwaites. The first step to combating with diseases is 

 doubtless an efficient knowlege of their nature, and it 

 appears that the observations of these gentlemen and Mr. 

 Morris have been attended with success in the apphcation 

 of proper remedies. Full figures are given in the report 

 of the structure and nature of the coffee mildew by Mr. 

 Abbay. This is not the only good work which has been 

 done ',at the new laboratory during the past year, where 

 the writer of the present notice has more than once 

 profited by the facilities which it affords for observation. 

 It is not to be expected that the introduction of useful 

 plants will be equally successful everywhere. Much 

 depends on the intelligence and care of the recipients, 

 even when there is no inaptability of climate. We antici- 

 pate in future reports that the diffusion of other matters 

 less generally known will be recorded as at once successful 

 and important. There is, perhaps, no set of plants of 

 more importance than those which produce india-rubber. 

 Attention was drawn years ago to the wasteful destruc- 

 tion of native plants and the necessity of greater care 

 being taken with the forests in which these trees abound, 

 and a committee was appointed for the furtherance of this 

 object. The trees which produce this valuable substance 

 are various, and belong to very different natural orders, 

 and the extension of different sources of production, in 

 consonance with different varieties of climate, has been a 

 matter of constant anxiety at Kew. Here, again, a perusal 

 of the report before us will be highly instructive. 



Besides the matters above mentioned, at the close of the 

 report many suggestions of sources of possible utility are 

 given, which will be read with much interest, amongst 

 which we may mention the Rain-tree of Peru, the South. 



