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DEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE ON BOTANICAL WORK 



Sir W. T. 

 Thiselton- 



Dyer, 

 K.C. M.G.J 



F.K.S. 



Horticulture. 



Of horticultural interest a list enumerating 766 

 species and varieties of orchids that flowered at Kew 

 during the year 189U has been published {K.B., 1891, p. 

 52), affording useful information as to the time and 

 29 Nov. 1900. 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 Gypripedium 

 longifolium, Masdevallia pulvinaris, and Odontoglossum 

 crispum, were in flower all through the year. 



The cultivation of tropical and sub-tropical plants on 

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

 on the principal palms, cycads, bamboos, agaves, and 

 other succulent plants. To this was added a list of 

 Bome of the most interesting 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 liliacese on the Riviera (K.B., 1892, p. 1). 

 As few botanists have attended much to these plants it 

 has been very difficult for cultivators to obtain names 

 for their collections. A correct determination of cul- 

 tivated Riviera plants is also of value to Kew, as it 

 assists in the interchange or purchase of new and de- 

 sirable specimens required for the establishment. 



An important paper on horticulture and arboriculture 

 in the United States, prepared by the curator, Mr. G. 

 Nicholson, A.L.S., whilst on a visit, as a judge iu 

 horticulture at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago 

 (K.B., 1894, p. 37), has rendered it possible to obtain a 

 more complete representation of the trees and shrubs 

 of the United States in the Arboretum of the Royal 

 Gardens, and ha>=; brought before horticulturists in this 

 country many interesting plants that had not hitherto 

 received the attention they deserved. Nearer home, a 

 paper on Horticulture in Cornwall {K.B., 1693, p. 355) 

 affords a fairly representative picture of the possi- 

 bilities of Cornish horticulture, where, owing to the 

 mildness of the climate, types of the vegetation of New 

 Zealand and the Himalaya do better even than under 

 glass at Kew. The " cultivation of vegetables for 

 market " and the possibilities of market gardening in 

 Great Britain {K.B., 1895, p. 307) discusses an important 

 economic problem. 



Among other horticultural subjects dealt with are 

 the storing of home-grown fruit {K.B., 1895, p. 31, with 

 an illustration of a fruit room), and a detailed account 

 of the prune industry in France and California. 



Plant Diseases. 



The diseases of cultivated plants is a subject on 

 -which the aid of Kew is frequently sought on behalf 

 of Colonial Governments by the Secretary of State for 

 the Colonies. The investigation of fungoid diseases 

 often demands considerable time and attention on the 

 part of members of the Kew staff, while those caused 

 by insects render it necessary to secure the assistance 

 of specially qualified experts to whose courtesy this 

 establishment is greatly indebted. The several diseases 

 that have affected the sugar-cane in the West Indies, 

 Queensland, and Mauritius have been described in a 

 series of important articles extending over several 

 years (1890-96) whilst diseases such as those affecting 

 arrowroot in St. Vincent, bananas in Fiji, cocoa-nut in 

 British Honduras, coffee in East Africa, onions in 

 Bermuda, wheat in Cyprus, pepper in Mysore, potatoes 

 in India, vanilla in Seychelles, have also been care- 

 fully dealt with. Of considerable practicaj value are 

 articles on the preservation of grain from weevils {K.B., 

 1890, p. 144), and on the well-known plant-malady called 

 "anbury" and "finger and toe," which attacks turnips 

 (K.B., 1895, p. 129). It is shown that free acid present 

 in the soil is 'favourable to the disease, while a free 

 alkali is unfavourable. 



FiBEE Plants. 



The large and increasing interest taken in fibre 

 plants and the numerous references made to this estab- 

 lishment on the subject, rendered it desirable to place 

 within reach of cultivators in India and the Colonies a 

 summary of information respecting them. This is con- 

 tained in a series of articles begun in 1887 and con- 

 tinued with more or less regularity to the present time. 

 The total number amounts to about 70. As might be 



expected, those of chief importance relate to Sisal 

 hemp and Ramie, or China grass, subjects which have 

 received much attention in various parts of the Empire. 

 These articles are of value, not only in encouraging tha 

 cultivation of plants yielding fibFes likely to be in 

 actual demand, and yielding remunerative results, but 

 in preventing expenditure upon those that are known 

 to be useless. 



Many fibres have been traced to the plants yielding 

 them for the first time. For instance, the Mexican 

 whisk, or Baiz de Zacaton, was identified, from speci- 

 mens communicated by the Foreign Office, as the root 

 of a species of Epicampes, a grass distributed over the 

 highlands of Mexico. The plants yielding the fibre 

 called Istle, used, not for rope making, but as a sub- 

 stitute for animal bristles in the manufacture of cheap 

 nail and scrubbing brushes, were found to belong to 

 a group of Agaves with short leaves, of which Agave 

 heteracantha, Zucc, is the type. The first information 

 respecting African bass, a fibre obtained from Eaphia 

 vinifera, was published in the Kew Bulletin {K.B., 

 1891, p. 1). This is now a regular article of export 

 from our African Colonies ; and the same thing may 

 be said of the bass fibre obtained from the Palmyra 

 palm in Ceylon {K.B., 1892, p. 148), and of Madagascar 

 Piassava yielded by a new species of Dictyosperma 

 (K.B., 1894, p. 358). A continuous account of the hemp 

 industry in Yucatan, and of the similar industry lately 

 started in the Bahamas, is given over the whole period. 

 The origin of the white-rope fibres which appeared in 

 commerce as Bombay aloe fibre, and as Manila aloe 

 fibre, have been traced to Agave vivipara, a New World 

 species now naturalised and fairly abundant in many 

 parts of the East Indies {K.B., 1893, p. 78). 



The recent attempts to extract and to utilise tha 

 valuable fibres contained in the China grass {Boehmeria- 

 nivea), and Ramie or Rhea (B. tenacissima), have been 

 placed on record in a series of articles which have been 

 of considerable service to manufacturers in this 

 country and also to our planting Colonies. The habits 

 and requirements of the plants and the conditions 

 necessary for their successful cultivation have been 

 carefully discussed. i 



Rubber Plants. 



The investigation of rubber-yielding plants has re- 

 sulted in drawing attention not only to new sources 

 of supply, but in increasing the quantity available for 

 commercial purposes. The remarkable rubber industry 

 started in the Colony of Lagos in 1889 is described 

 {E.B., 1895, p. 241), and a figure is given of the plant, 

 which hitherto had not been known as a source of com- 

 mercial rubber. The Lagos rubber industry in two 

 years developed into an export value of nearly 

 £400,000. A somewhat similar industry had been 

 started on the Gold Coast by the efforts of Sir Alfred 

 Moloney, with exports in 1893 of the value of £218,162. 

 Practically all the more important sources of com- 

 mercial rubber are reviewed, while particulars respect- 

 ing new rubber plants such as Forsteronia gracilis in 

 British Guiana, F. Uoribunda in Jamaica, and Sapium, 

 glandulosum in the United -States of Columbia are also 

 given. It may be added that information is desired by 

 this establishment respecting the plants yielding the 

 Esmeralda rubber of Guiana {K.B., 1892, p. 70) and 

 that exported from Matto-grosso in Brazil. There is a 

 doubt as to the distinction, if any, existing between 

 caout-choucs yielded respectively by the Ule and Tunu 

 trees of Central America. One of these is usually referred 

 to CasHUoa elastica, but botanical specimens are neces- 

 sary of each tree to definitely decide the point. 



Special Articles. 



These include the results of investigations made afc 

 Kew into plants yielding Paraguay tea, or mate, so largely 

 used as a beverage ,iii South America (K.B., 1892, 

 p. 132) ; vanilla-yielding plants cultivated in tropical 

 countries (K.B., 1835, p. 169) ; the .plaiiits yielding 

 Sisal hemp (K.B., 1892, p. 21); the timber' of the 

 Straits Settlements {K.B., 1890, p. 112); the species 

 and varieties of Mttsa cultivated for food or ornament 

 (K.B., 1894, p. 229); tropical fodder grasses (E.B., 

 1894, p. 373; 1896, p. 115); Chinese white wax {K.B., 

 1893. p. 84) ; the arrowroot industry of St. Vincent 

 {K.B., 1893, p. 191); tuberous Labiataj {K.B., 1894, 

 p. 10) ; Canary rosewoods {K.B., 1893, p. 133) ; Ameri- 

 can ginseng (K.B., 1893, p. 71); palm weevils in 



