THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 675 



mention the Jnbaea. Miss North visited Chili in 1884, and paint- 

 ed a picture on the Jubsea, which is in the Kew collection. "In a 

 place called Salto, one of the most attractive coast suburbs of 

 Valparaiso, there is a valley full of the native palm, Jubasa spectabi- 

 lis, which used to cover the country forty j-ears ago, but now 

 scarcely a hundred trees remain. They are mis-shapen things, but 

 seem quite in character with the rocky valley thej* grow in." 

 (Recollection of a Happy Life). 



According to Seeman, the Jubsea is cultivated in Colombia and 

 other parts of South America. 



Uses. — "In Chili", says the treasurer of Botany, "a sweet 

 syrup, called Miel de Palma, or Palm-honey, is prepared by boiling 

 the sap of this tree to the consistence of treacle, and it forms a 

 considerable article of trade, being much esteemed for domestic use 

 as sugar. The sap is obtained by the very wasteful method of 

 felling the trees, and cutting off the crown of leaves, when it 

 immediately begins to flow, and continues to do so for several 

 months, until the tree is exhausted, providing a thin slice is shaved 

 off the top ever}^ morning, each tree yielding about 90 gallons. 



"The nuts are used by the Chilian confectioners in the prepara- 

 tion of sweetmeats, and by the boys as marbles." The seeds are 

 sometimes exported into England, and are known commercially as 

 Monkey's Coconuts or Little Coker-nuts. They are eaten by boys ; 

 but no other use seems to be known to which they are put in 

 Europe. 



Bertero* wrote as early as 1829 : "I conceive it to be useless to 

 speak of the utility and qualities of this tree, since all are acquainted 

 with its abundant fruit, and the syrup (miel de palma) which is used, 

 as also of the several purposes to which it is applicable. 



The leaves are employed for thatching. Its extraordinary hard 

 and incorruptible wood may afford great resources, since with the 

 trunk. . . . may be formed tubes and conduits for water, and 

 sewers, an economical method of replacing those commonly used 

 and whose duration is not so certain". | 



Gardening in l^uroiDe. — The Coquito Nut or Wine Palm of Chili 

 is one of the most interesting of sub-tropical palms. It is a very 

 handsome plant and well adapted for sub-tropical gardening. 



The soil for this palm should be a mixture of one-half rich loam, 

 and one-half a compost of peat, leaf-mould and sand. It with- 

 stands the winter in the open air near London, in a poor condition, 



* List of the plants of Chili, by Dr. C Bertero ; translated from the " Mercurio 

 chileno ", and forwarded for this Journal by W. S. W. Euschenberg-er, m.d., 

 TT. S. Navy. In Sillim. American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. XX, No. 1, 

 pp. 251-52 (1831). 



f Philippi says that the wood is utterly useless. I have not been able to find out 

 which statement is correct. 



