130 REPORT — 1859. 



Botany. 



On some Uses to which the Nuts of the Vegetable Ivory Palm (Phytelephas 

 macrocarpa) is applied. By George Bennett, M.D., F.L.S. #c, of 

 Sydney, New South Wales. 



The Palm producing these nuts is found in South America about the river Magde- 

 lena, and is one of that class, throwing up large fronds from the roots, having no eleva- 

 tion of the trunk, and producing its large masses of fruit at the base of the enormous 

 leaves. Some years since the nuts were only regarded as merely curiosities, and 

 were also carved into fancy heads of dogs and other animals for the handles of 

 parasols, umbrellas, and walking-sticks, for which purpose they still continue an 

 article of commerce ; but during a recent visit to Birmingham, I found that for the 

 last two years these nuts have been used in that city in the manufacture of buttons ; 

 they are found durable and capable of receiving the various dyes equal to ivory, and 

 are made at considerably less price than the latter material. This substance was 

 first used for shirt buttons, but having been found to become discoloured, probably 

 by the soap used in washing, fell into disuse until the dyeing them of various 

 colours was adopted. The price of the nuts varies from twenty-two to thirty-two 

 shillings per cwt., according to the quality and demand ; and it is considered that 

 from 400 to 500 tons are annually consumed in Birmingham, and gives employment 

 to about 500 persons. 



As regards the quantity of buttons manufactured, it of course varies ; but one 

 manufactory has been said to have made in one of their busy months as many as 

 six thousand gross of all qualifies and sizes ; and the average quantity made in 

 Birmingham per month may reach from eight to ten thousand gross. The buttons 

 are used principally for gentlemen's jackets and vests, and also for ladies' mantles 

 and children's dresses. The machinery employed is of different form from that 

 used in the ordinary button manufacture, and enables the manufacturer to form the 

 shapes cheaper and with more rapidity than by the ordinary lathe. [Specimens 

 were exhibited showing the nut in the natural state when removed from the massive 

 drupe in which it was contained, and in the various stages of manufacture ; and 

 also a series of buttons dyed of various colours, and arranged in the mixed varieties 

 for commercial purposes.] The prices per gross vary, but they are sold at a cheap 

 rate in comparison with similar articles made of other materials that are capable of 

 receiving dyes of any durability. The refuse of the nuts is at present not used for 

 any special purpose. . 



On the Failure of Bright Coloured Flowers in Forest Trees to produce 

 Pictorial Effect on the Landscape, unless accompanied by abundance of 

 Green Leaves. By George Buist, LL.D., F.R.S. Lond. fy 'Edinb., 

 F.G.S., Corr. Memb. Geog. Soc. Vienna, 8fc. 



In Northern Europe there is scarcely anything deserving the name of forest tree 

 that affords flowers of sufficient brilliancy and size at any season of the year to 

 affect the general colouring of the landscape ; no tree or even bush of any magni- 

 tude puts forth its flowers until it is in leaf. The laburnum, lilac, roan tree, and 

 hawthorn, are not deserving of the name of trees. The apple, the pear, and the 

 gum tree, though in full flower before they are more than partially in leaf, are still 

 in part tinted with green when their first flowers appear. The flowers of the 

 chestnut, the horse-chestnut and the lime, beautiful as they are seen at a distance, 

 approach so nearly to the general colour of the leaves, that the stranger to England, 

 ignorant of their existence, could scarcely discover them half a mile away. 



In India it is altogether different ; with a brilliant display of flowers on some one 

 variety of tree or other, of the very largest size, all the year round, many of the 

 most gorgeous of them flower in winter, when the tree itself, and probably most of 

 those around it, bear not one trace of green ; and the result is, that the tree affording 

 branches, which examined in the hand seem of unsurpassable beauty, are, when 

 seen in the forest, rather an offence than a pleasure to the eye. 



The Bombax malalarictm, the Erythrina indica, Cochlospermum Gossypium, Butea 



