MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



<S1 



British Honduras {K.H., 1893, p. 27) ; r.nd sheep bushes 

 and salt bushes {K.B., 1896, j). 129). In addition several 

 articles have appeared cit scribing tiie various forms in 

 Tvhich tea is met. with in European and Asiatic commerce. 

 P'u-erh tea is made into balls as big as a man's head, or 

 into cakes ; compressed or tablet tea is manufactured 

 from tea dust by steam machinery, while another form 

 known as brick tea is used in Chinese Mongolia and Tibet. 

 Lao tea is not used for maJcing an infusion, but prepared 

 ■wholly for chewing purposes. A juckled tea, called 

 Leppett tea, is eaten as a preserve with other articles. 

 The white tea of Persia has been shown to consist of the 

 undeveloped loafbuds of China tea thickly coated with fine 

 hairs, giving them a silvery appearance. A singular 

 beverage, known as Faham tea, is prejiared in Mauritius 

 from the leaves of an orchid Angrcecum fragrans {K.B., 

 1892, p. 181). This is described as agreeable and nsed 

 as a digestive ; it is even recommended in diseases of 

 the respiratory organs. The leaves themselves mixed 

 with ordinary tea impart to them an extremely pleasant 

 perfume. 



The discovery of seedling sugar-canes at Barbados 

 {K.B., 1889, p. 242) has rendered it practicable to raise 

 new serviceable varieties, and probably to improve the 

 yield of this valuable plant. A seedling raised at Kew 

 has yielded excellent results in Queensland, and has 

 been largely propagated under the name of " Kewensis" 

 {K.B., 1896, p. 167). The possibility of preparing a 

 palatable butter from the oil of the cocoa-nut {K.B., 

 1890, p. 230), is an instance of the advance made in the 

 chemistry of familiar vegetable products. Canaigre 

 (K.B., 1890, p. 63) iwiill .probably prove a most valu- 

 nDle tanning agent, while the preparation of cutch 

 from the bark of mangrove trees {K.B., 1892, p. 227) 

 may bring into profitable use stretches of vegeta- 

 tion in the tropics that have hitherto been re- 

 garded as perfectly useless. Amongst new economic 

 plants should be mentioned Coffea stenophylla, the high- 

 land coffee of Sierra Leone {K.B., 1896, p. 189) which 

 in certain localities may prove a formidable rival of the 

 Arabian coffee. 



The publication of a note on Jarrah timber {K.B., 1890, 

 p. 188) has led to the extended use of this and similar 

 Australian hard woods for the purpose of paving the 

 carriage-way of London streets instead of the cheaper 

 but less durable white pine. The collection of Aus- 

 tralian timbers in Museum III. were of special service 

 in this direction. 



A paper on Natural Sugar in Tobacco {K.B., 1896. 

 pp. 49-455) recorded some scientific facts of great 

 novelty and interest, and solved an important fiscal 

 problem. 



Detjgs. 



Many litble-known drugs have been investigated. The 

 seed.i of SopJiora secundiUora have a singular use among 

 the Indians of Mexico, where they are taken as an intoxi- 

 cant. Half a seed is said to produce exhilaration followed 

 by sleep lasting two or three days {K.B., 1892, p. 216). 



Derris elliptica, now growing in the Economic House 

 at Kew, yields the Malavan fish poison known as " Aker 

 Tuba" {E.B., 1892, p. 216). J^'rom the account given of 

 Natal Aloes and of the plants supposed to yield this pro- 

 duct {K.B., 1890, p. 163) it appears that it differs in 

 some important respects from the more commonly known 

 Cape Aloes. The discovery of the plant, also in the Kew 

 collection, yielding the true Star Anise of commerce, is 

 noticed (K.B., 1888, p. 173). The manufacture of quinine 

 in India and the wide distribution ab a nominal price of 

 this valuable medicinal agent amongst the natives 

 (K.B., 1890, p. 29) is one of the most important services 

 which European rule has rendered to the Indian 

 Empire. Paraguay Jaborandi (Pilocarpus) is discussed 

 {K.B., ISQ-l, p. 179) from materials sent to ,tih;s 

 country by H.M.'s Charge d'aifaires at Buenos Ayres in 

 1881. The origin of myrrh and frankincense is dis- 

 cussed in considerable detail {K.B., 1896, p. 86), while 

 the first authentic information respecting the district 

 whence Siam Benzoin or Gum Benjamin of commerce 

 is obtained in the subject of another article (K.B., 1S95, 

 p. 154). Next to Gum Benjamin, Siam Gamb ge is 

 is obtained in the subject of another article {K.B., '.'895, 

 p. 139). The peculiar Ai Camphor prepared in China 

 from a shrubby composite, a species of Blximen, is 

 described (with a plate) from information supplied bv Dr. 

 Augustine Henry {K.B., 1895, p. 275). The plants yield- 

 ing the leaves known as coca, and the drug cocaine, with 

 their characteristics, a~e discussed {K.B., 1889, p. 1), with 



3499. 



a suggestion that a plant long cultivated a Kew {Ery- ,9/,. jj/ j- 

 throxylon Coca, var. iwvo-granafmsc) might be suited for T/iixclton- 

 cultivation at a lower elevation than the type. The little- iJi/er, 

 known Iboga root of the Gaboon and Bocca of the Congo, K.e.M.G. , 

 jKissessing tonic properties, is traced to Tabernanthe K.R.s. 



Ibaga, Baill. K.B., 1895, p. 37); tlie tree yielding t.he ^ 



Ipoh poison of the Malay peninsula is identified with ^^ ^*'^- '900. 

 that yielding the Upas poison of Java {K.B., 1891, ' 



p. 24), but the remarkable point is brought out that 

 while in Java the Upas tree {Antiaris toxicaria) fur- 

 nishes a very effective arrow poison, in the Malay 

 peninsula the juice of what is regarded as an identical 

 species is apparentlj' innocuous, and the defect is 

 remedied by the use of arsenic. 



Food Geatns. 



A series of articles on the Food Grains of India by Pro- 

 fessor A. H. Church, F.R.S. (1888 to 1893), supplements 

 the information contained in his published handbook on 

 the same subject. The materials for these investigations 

 were supplied from the Museums of the Royal Gardens. 



Miscellaneous Notes. 



In 1891 a series of miscellaneous notes was begun in 

 which were recorded appointments on the Kew staff' as 

 well as those made on the recommendation of Kew by the 

 respective Secretaries of 'State to Colonial and Indian 

 Botanical Gardens. The notes also included a record of 

 contributions made to the gardens, herbarium, and 

 museums, the movements of expeditions and travellers 

 engaged in botanical exploration, notices of Kew pub- 

 lications, and facts of interest connected with the daily 

 work of the establishment. Later there were added paia- 

 graplis on general economic subjects too short to appear 

 as separate articles. The detailed index now published 

 will afford the means of reference to the.se scattered 

 notices. 



Appendices. 



The Appendices remain to be noticed. Of these three- 

 have been regularly issued at the end of each volume since- 

 1891. Previously the information contained in ihem had 

 appeared as one of the monthly numbers of the Bulletin. 



(1) Lists of seeds of hardy herbaceous plants and of 

 trees and shrubs offered in exchange by Kew to- 

 Colonial, Indian, and Foreign Botanical Gardens ; 



(2) Lists of new garden plants annually described in. 

 botanical and horticultural publications. These are 

 indispensable to the maintenance of a correct 

 nomenclature in the smaller botanical establish- 

 ments in correspondence with Kew, and afford in- 

 formation respecting new plants distributed from this 

 establshment in regular course of exchange with other 

 botanic gardens ; (3) Lists of the staffs of the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, and of botanical establishments at home 

 and in India and the Colonies in correspondence with. 

 Kew. 



In Appendix HI., 1890, will be found a complete index 

 to the Reports on the Progress and Condition of the 

 Royal Gardens, Kew, from 1862 to 1882. This index is 

 useful as a means of easy reference to the numerous 

 notices respecting economic and other plants. 



The following documents may be submitted to the 

 Committee as ofBcial evidence of the nature of one. 

 aspect of Kew work: — 



rCorr.] 

 Downing Street, 20 th May, 1885. 

 Sir, — I am directed by the Earl of Derby to transmit to . 

 you, to be laid before the Earl of liosebery, a copy cf the 

 annual report on the Public Gardens and Plantations 

 of Jamaica for the year 1884 by Mr. Morris, the Director, 

 and to request that you will call Lord Rosebery's atten- 

 tion to the recognition in the report of the services ren- 

 dered to Jamaica by Sir Joseph Hooker and the officers - 

 at the Royal Gardens at Kew. 



Lord Derby desires to take this opportunity of ex- 

 pressing to the First Commissioner of Works his appre- 

 ciation of the valuable advice and assistance which this 

 Department and the various Colonial Governments con- 

 tinually receive from Sir Joseph Hooker and Mr. Thisel- 

 ton-Dyer, and of the trouble and attention which they in- 

 variably bestow upon all colonial matters in which their 

 advice or assistance is desired. 



I am, etc., 

 (Signed) Robert G. W. Heebebt. 



The Secretary to the Office of Works. 



