578 



NA rURE 



[October 14, 1897 



Botanic Stations. 



The establishment and development of the institutions known 

 as Botanic Stations belongs almost entirely to the period under 

 review. These stations were first suggested in 1885 to meet the 

 special requirements of the smaller islands in the West Indies 

 (K.B., 1887, June I-12), where "a great want was felt for 

 reliable information on the culture of new economic plants and 

 plain practical hints as to the best means to be employed for 

 rendering them of the greatest value " (p. 7). This informa- 

 tion was intended to be supplied by a regular system of bulletins 

 supplemented by the maintenance of stations with nurseries 

 attached for supplying seeds and plants.. The officers in charge 

 of the stations were men selected mostly from Kew, with a 

 sound knowledge of gardening and capable of showing experi- 

 mentally the conditions under which tropical economic plants 

 might best be utilised as objects of remunerative industry. 



The scheme met with the approval of the late Earl of Derby, 

 and has been supported by successive Secretaries of State. 



The details of its working have devolved largely on Kew, 

 which has been continuously drawn upon for men, plants, 

 advice, and information. 



The first Botanic Stations were started at Grenada^ and 

 Barbados, in 1886. These were soon followed by similar stations 

 at St. Lucia (1889), Dominica and other islands in the Leeward 

 Group (1889), St. Vincent (1890), and afterwards at British 

 Honduras (1894). There are now nine stations in all in the 

 West Indies. 



The Grenada station was established on a spot just outside 

 the town of St. George, described by the Governor as a "good 

 site, well watered, accessible, and apparently suitable in every 

 way." The first grant was 300/., with a further sum of looo/. 

 towards establishing and laying out the garden and providing a 

 house for the curator. The objects of this garden were stated 

 as follows : ' ' To introduce and distribute plants of great 

 economic value, to supply practical hints respecting new and 

 promising industries, and to develop and improve existing minor 

 industries" (K.B., 1887, June 12). An account of the interest- 

 ing station at St. Vincent, established on the site of the old 

 botanic garden that existed from 1765 to 1823, was given with 

 a drawing of the curator's house {K.B., 1892, 92). Several 

 references are made to the excellent work done in the Botanic 

 Garden at Dominica, which promises to be one of the most 

 attractive and useful in the West Indies {K.B., 1893, '^A^)- 



Following the example of the West Indies, there have been 

 established five Botanic Stations on the West Coast of Africa. 

 The earliest was started at Lagos by Sir Alfred Moloney in 

 1888 ; the next at Aburi on the Gold Coast, in which Sir W. 

 Brandford Griffiths took a deep personal interest, in 1890. 

 . Since then stations have been established both at the Gambia 

 (1894), i" the Niger Coast Protectorate (1891), and at Sierra 

 Leone (1895). A further station has been established in Fiji 

 by the efforts of Sir John Thurston (1889). The results attained 

 by these Botanic Stations have been so promising that a strong 

 wish has been expressed by the local authorities to obtain 

 similar institutions at Bermuda, Bahamas, and the Seychelles. 



Fruit Trade. 



One of the most interesting developments in Colonial enter- 

 prise in recent years has been the increasing trade in fruit. 

 Jamaica led the way, largely owing to the encouragement of the 

 late Sir Anthony Musgrave, by supplying the United States with 

 bananas and oranges that hitherto had had no local commercial 

 value. The Jamaica fruit trade is now of the annual value of 

 more than half a million sterling, and employs a considerable 

 number of vessels wholly engaged in it. The trade in fruit 

 between the Southern Colonies of the Old World (the Cape 

 and Australia) and the mother country, is another instance of 

 commercial activity in a new direction. It is not yet ten years old, 

 but the value of the fruit annually imported is very considerable. 

 The first steps in this direction were undertaken on the sugges- 

 tion of Kew, and led to the excellent display of fruit made at 

 the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in 1886. This showed so 

 strikingly the capabilities of the Australian Colonies and the 

 Cape to ship fresh fruit to this country during the winter months, 

 that considerable effort was made to establish what is now 

 regarded as an important trade. 



In the Bulletin for the years 1887 and 1888 will be found a 

 summary of information not accessible in any other form in 

 regard to the capabilities of various parts of the Empire for the 

 production of fruit. This was brought together through the aid 



NO. 1459. VOL 56] 



of reports obtained by the Secretary of Slate for the Colonies, 

 and is still the most authoritative source of information on the 

 subject. The efforts now being made to ship various tropical 

 fruits from the West Indies direct to this country is another 

 direction in which great results may ultimately be attained. The 

 popular taste for the consumption of bananas is increasing. It 

 has been shown that many such fruits can be brought to the 

 home country in a fresh condition and find a ready market. 



Information is also given respecting certain kinds that have 

 been introduced with the aid of Kew from the West to the East 

 Indies (K.B., August i, 1887). Among these the Tree Tomato, 

 the Chocho, and the Cherimoyer have proved useful additions 

 to the food supply of hill stations in India and Ceylon. On the 

 other hand new varieties of bananas and mangoes, the Durian 

 and the Mangosteen, have been transferred from the East to the 

 West Indies. 



Decades Keavenses. 



Under the title of "Decades Kewenses " descriptions of 

 plants new to science have reached the thirtieth decade. These 

 are based on specimens contributed from every region on the 

 earth's surface from the extreme heights of Tibet to the shores 

 of the remotest islet in the Pacific Ocean. Further, owing to the 

 increased impulse to exploration and commercial enterprise in 

 Tropical Africa, it was thought desirable to publish at once, 

 but in a separate series, brief diagnoses of new species. This 

 has been done in the "Diagnoses Africanse " (1894 to 1895). 



Floras. 



Besides these the vegetation of special regions investigated at 

 Kew as the result of collections communicated by expeditions 

 and travellers, appear under numerous headings as the Flora of 

 the Solomon Islands {K.B., 1894, 211; 1895, 132, 159); of 

 Aldabra Islands {K.B., 1894, 146); of Formosa {K.B., 1896, 

 65) ; of St. Vincent and adjacent islets (K.B. 1893, 231); of 

 the Gambia Delimitation Commission (A''. Z?., 1891, 268; 1892, 

 45) ; of the Sikkim-Tibet frontier (1893, 297) ; of Tibet i^K.B., 



1894, 136) ; of the Hadramaut Expedition (jt.B., 1894, 328 ; 



1895, 315) ; Siam plants {K.B., 1895, 38). Amongst investiga- 

 tions of the economic products of various regions are articles 

 on the Agricultural industries of the Gambia {K.B., 1889, 242), 

 Economic plants of Madagascar (K.B., 1890, 200) ; Agricul- 

 tural resources of Zanzibar {K.B., 1892, 87); Economic plants 

 of Sierra Leone {K.B., 1893, 167); and Plant industries of 

 Lagos ( a: i?., 1893, 180). 



Orchids. 



The cultivation of orchids is one of the most prominent 

 features of English horticulture. Every part of the world is 

 ransacked for them by collectors. Of no family of plants have 

 more species been got together in a living state, and in no 

 country are a greater number maintained under cultural condi- 

 tions than in England. During his lifetime, the late Dr. 

 Keichenbach, Professor of Botany at Hamburg, was the ac- 

 knowledged authority for their nomenclature. On his death in 

 1889 vigorous public pressure was brought to bear on Kew to 

 take up his work. This was done, though not without difficulty, 

 in addition to its other duties, and in 1891 the publication of 

 technical descriptions of new species was commenced. Twenty 

 decades of "new orchids" have been published in the 

 Bulletin. 



Horticulture. 



Of horticultural interest a list enumerating 766 species and 

 varieties of orchids that flowered at Kew during the year 1890 

 has been published {K.B., 1891, 52), affording useful informa- 

 tion as to the time and duration of the flowering period of 

 orchids cultivated in this country. The highest number of 

 species flowered in one month was 125 in May ; the lowest was 85 

 in January. Some species, as for instance Cypripedium longi- 

 foHum, Masdevallia pulvinaris, and Odontoglossum crisptim, 

 were in flower all through the year. 



The cultivation of tropical and sub-tropical plants on the 

 Riviera was described {K.B., 1889, 287), with notes on the 

 principal palms, cycads, bamboos, agaves, and other succulent 

 plants. To this was added a list of some of the most inter- 

 esting other species established on the Riviera, revising in many 

 cases the names under which they had hitherto been recognised. 

 A further contribution was made to this subject by a paper written 

 by Mr. J. G. Baker, F.R.S., on the agaves and arborescent 

 ilacese on the Riviera (K.B., 1892, i). As few botanists have 

 attended much to these plants, it has been very difficult for 



