Foreign Notices : — North America. 



77 



to make a complete collection of this, as well as of all other species of 

 palms, in Ceylon. 



The tall palm trees in Rajah Pakse's garden are the Cocos nucifera 



{fig. 20.), the Borassus flabelliformis, 

 and the Caryota urens. Of the first 

 the following description is given by Sir 

 Alexander Johnston in his note of the 

 above-mentioned papers, delivered by 

 him to the Asiatic Society : — 



The coarse filament of the cocoa- 

 nut husk, called coir, is used through- 

 out India for rope. In Ceylon it is ob- 

 tained from the cocoa-nut trees, which 

 grow in great luxuriance along the 

 south-west part of the coast, from the 

 river Hymel to the river Wallawa)', 

 forming a belt one hundred and thirty 

 miles in length, and one and a half in 

 breadth. This belt was estimated, in 

 the time when the Dutch governed 

 Ceylon, to contain between ten and 

 eleven millions of cocoa-nut trees, and'to produce, in addition to a great 

 quantity of cocoa-nut oil, and six thou- 

 sand leaguers of arrack, upwards of three 

 millions of pounds weight of coir. A 

 good tree in that belt was estimated to 

 produce from fifty to eighty, and some- 

 times one hundred cocoa-nuts in a year ; 

 each cocoa-nut being equivalent, as food, 

 to at least three ounces of rice. Of the 

 latter the following description is given in 

 a note to the same paper : — 



The Palmyra of the province of Jaffna 

 is the Borassus flabelliformis (^g. 21.) of 

 Linnaeus. This palm grows to great per- 

 fection in that province. The species of 

 Borassus in Jaffna, which is so valuable, is 

 that of which the wood is almost ouite 

 black. It is used all over India for raft- 

 ers, and for the roofs of houses; and is 

 peculiarly valuable, from its resisting all in- 

 sects, and being extremely durable. The 

 Borassus, independently of its supplying 

 this valuable wood for exportation, is of the 

 greatest importance to the inhabitants of 

 Jaffna, from its fruit and roots being used 

 by them for food ; and from many other 

 parts of it being used by them in manufactures, and as articles of trade. 

 {Sir A. Johnston in Trans, of the R.A.S., vol. i. p. 454.) 



NORTH AMERICA. 



Jamaica Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Agriculture. — Sir, I 

 take the liberty of sending you the following account of proceedings in the 

 Jamaica Society for the Encouragement of the Arts and Agriculture, on 

 Nov. 1 1 ., when premiums were awarded to Mr. Smith, for New Zealand 

 hemp and various other new plants, 8 dollars ; to Mr. John Wills, for 

 cauliflowers, 3 dollars ; to Mr. Alexander Robertson, for mead, 4 dollars ; 



