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NA TV RE 



[July 28, 1892 



lower station, especially in spring and summer, while in winter 

 the conditions were reversed. The mimima were higher through- 

 out the year at the higher station than those near the ground. 

 These results are in accordance with those obtained by the 

 director, Padre Denza, in the case of observations taken at 

 Turin. (2) On rainfall at different heights. The results show that 

 the amount of rainfall is greater at the higher station at times 

 of heavy rain, and conversely at times of slight rain. (3) Com- 

 parisons of relative humidity, tension of vapour, and temperature, 

 accompanied by carves. The work also contains hourly observa- 

 tions from January to June, photograms of lunar regions, photo- 

 types of some constellations and nebulae. 



As an illustration of the specialization of scientific teaching on 

 the Continent, we may mention that Dr. H. Schinz has been 

 appointed Professor of Systematic Botany at the University of 

 Zurich, in order that Prof. A. Dodel may devote his course of 

 lectures entirely to Anatomical and Physiological Botany. 



General Paris, of Dinard (Ille-et-Vilaine, France), is 

 engaged in the preparation of a Noinenclator Bryologicus, on the 

 plan of Steudel's " Nomenclator Botanicus." He will be greatly 

 obliged if bryologisls of all countries will send him copies of 

 recent memoirs, or an exact reference to the description of all 

 new species, accompanied, where possible, by a specimen. 



A NEW botanical publication has made its appearance under 

 the title Arbeiien aus dein K. Botanischen Garten zu Breslau. It 

 is edited by Prof PrantI and will be devoted to the record of 

 work done in the Botanic Oarden at Breslau. The first number 

 contains a paper by Prof. PrantI, on the Classification of Ferns, 

 one by Herr Pomrencke on the structure of the wood of certain 

 gamopetalous families, and one by Herr Mez on the Lauraceas. 



In addition to the Vascular Cryptogams collected under the 

 auspices of the West India Exploration Committee by Mr. R. 

 V. Sherring, F.L. S., in the island, and described in the Annals 

 of Botany, Vol. vi., No. 21, April, 1892, by Mr. J. G. Baker, 

 F.R. S., his collections at Kew have yielded about thirty species 

 of Orchids from Grenada, some of which are of considerable 

 interest. They have now been determined by Mr. R. A. Rolfe, 

 A.L. S. The orchids of Grenada appear not to have been 

 systematically collected before. There are no records of species 

 from that island in Grisebach's Flora of the British West India 

 Islands, 1864, and only about three or four were represented in 

 the Kew Herbarium. Mr. Sherring's collections, therefore, 

 enable us to arrive at a tolerably good idea of the distribution 

 of orchids in the island. A species of Brachionidium, a genus 

 not hitherto represented in the West Indian flora, is probably 

 new, as also species of Scaphyglottis and Cranichis, Hexisia 

 reflexa, Pleurothallis pruinosa, Oncidium biridum and 

 Ornithocephalus gladiatus have not hitherto been found in the 

 smaller islands, the recorded specimens being chiefly from 

 Jamaica and Trinidad. Dichcea hystricina has not been found 

 before except in Cuba by Wright and Eggers. Xylobiwn 

 [Maxillaria pallidi flora) was recorded before only from St. 

 Vincent, and Elleanthus lepidiis is new to the West Indian 

 flora. The remaining species are found in many islands, such 

 as Jamaica and Dominica, but their occurrence still further 

 south is a point of some interest. 



The City and Guilds of London Institute has issued a list of 

 the candidates who have passed its examination for the teacher's 

 certificate in manual training. The examination is limited to 

 teachers in public elemeritary schools. It was held this year for 

 the first time, and related to woodwork. As a large number of 

 teachers had been receiving manual instruction before the in- 

 stitution of the examination, a limited number of candidates 

 were allowed to present themselves for the final examination 

 NO. II 87, VOL. 46] 



without having passed the first year's examination. There were 

 275 candidates for the first year's examination, and of these forty- 

 seven passed in the first class, 108 in the second, and 120 failed. 

 For the final examination there were 340 candidates, of whom 

 forty-nine passed in the first class, 146 passed in the second 

 class, while 145 failed. The examiners report, as regards the 

 first year's examination, that the practical wood-working was 

 uniformly well done, but that the drawing was badly done by a 

 large number of candidates. " It is obvious," they add, "that 

 the instruction in practical drawing is not good. Many candi- 

 dates failed even to understand the examination paper." In the 

 advanced examination the drawing was much better. 



The Yorkshire College, Leeds, has issued the first report of 

 its department of Agriculture. We are glad to note that the 

 County Lectures to farmers have, as a whole, been successful 

 beyond the most sanguine anticipations of the committee. The 

 unsympathetic attitude which the farmers at some of the centres 

 assumed at first with respect to these lectures was often speedily 

 changed to warm appreciation, which rose, in certain cases, to 

 enthusiasm. The attendance, which was sometimes small at 

 the beginning, grew larger and larger as the course proceeded, 

 and although it afterwards fluctuated for various reasons, the 

 chief of which was the unfavourable state of the weather, which 

 in sparsely populated districts made a journey to the lecture a 

 matter of considerable time and difficulty, the average attendance 

 was extraordinarily good. To the classes and practical demon- 

 strations, which followed many of the lectui-es, a considerable 

 portion of the audience remained, and their eager participation 

 in the discussions and tests, which formed a conspicuous part of 

 the work of these classes, was extremely encouraging to the 

 lecturers. 



At a meeting of the London Chamber of Commerce on Mon- 

 day, Mr. J. Ferguson read a paper on "The Production and 

 Consumption of Tea, Coffee, Cacao (cocoa), Cinchona, Cocoa- 

 nuts and Oil, and Cinnamon, with reference to Tropical Agri- 

 culture in Ceylon." He referred to the position of Ceylon, its 

 forcing climate, its command of free cheap labour, and its im- 

 munity from the hurricanes which periodically devastated Mauri- 

 tius, from the cyclones of the Bay of Bengal, and from the vol- 

 canic disturbances affecting Java and the Eastern Archipelago. 

 The plantations of Ceylon afforded, he said, the best training 

 in the world for young men in the cultivation and preparation of 

 tropical products, and in the management of free coloured labour. 

 The cultivation of cane sugar, although tried at considerable 

 outlay on several plantations forty and fifty years ago, proved a 

 failure. More recently experiments by European planters with 

 tobacco had not been a success, nothwithstanding that the na- 

 tives grew a good deal of a coarse quality for their own use. Al- 

 though cotton growing had not been successful, the island had 

 proved a most congenial home for many useful palms, more par- 

 ticularly the coconut (spelt without the " a " to distinguish it and 

 its products from cocoa— the beans of the shrub Theobroma 

 cacao) and palmyra, as also thearecaand kitul or jaggery palms. 

 Within the past few years Ceylon had come to the front as one 

 of the three great tea-producing countries in the world, India 

 and China being the other two, with Java at a respectable dis- 

 tance. Mr. Ferguson said one of the chief objects of his pape 

 was to demonstrate which of the products of the island it was 

 safe to recommend for extended cultivation in new lands and 

 which were already in danger of being over-produced, and he 

 had arrived at the conclusion that coffee, cacao, and rubber- 

 yielding trees were the products to plant, while tea, cinnamon, 

 cardamoms, cinchona bark, pepper, and even palms (for their 

 oil) did not offer encouragement to extended cultivation. Statis- 

 tics relating to the total production and consumption were given 

 in an appendix. 



