19 



" The ingenuity of the skilled gardener has produced mar- 

 vellous results in floriculture, not merely in the developement 

 or suppression of organs, but also in tho multiplication of the 

 parts of flowers, the increase of the number of one series with 

 the corresponding decrease or suppression of another. With 

 the possibility of such results, the apparent marvel of changing 

 the sex of flowers loses its marvellous character For change 

 of sex would be nothing more than the developement or sup- 

 pression of the stamens or pistil, resulting in the production of 

 male, female, or hermaphodite flowers. The sexual character 

 of the flower would thus appear to be, to some extent at least, 

 controllable, and dependent on the influence of external forces." 



I hope during the coming season to be able to test this 

 matter, and, perhaps, others having young plants of Papaw 

 which turn out to be males will also try this rather interesting 

 experiment. 



Arachis hypogcea. " Ground nut." — Several attempts have 

 been made in Natal to cultivate this plant on a commercial 

 scale, about the year 1858 a mill for extracting the oil was 

 established by the late Mr. George Russell of Durban, but as 

 Mr. Russell states in his k ' History of Natal," the introduction 

 of camphine and paraffin left the oil unsaleable in his vats, 

 and as I note that he tried without much success to get the 

 natives to cultivate the plant, I think that his supplies of nuts 

 were not very abundant. I believe that the plant was also 

 grown by Mr. Seymour at a farm near Malvern, and that a 

 mill was also established there, and still later on, the plant was 

 grown by Mr. A. H. Galloway near Mount Moreland — these 

 attempts evidently all ended in failure to make the cultivation 

 of the crop profitable. Under these circumstances, therefore, 

 an article in the Agricultural Netcs of the West Indies, which 

 was extracted from the Southern Planter for May 1903 will be 

 instructive and most probably supply the reason why this crop 

 has, so far as 1 am aware, always been a failure in Natal. It 

 seems probable that some attention is again being given to the 

 cultivation of this plant, as I have had several applications for 

 information about it, and I therefore give the article entire. 



*' The demand for these nuts has been good, prices are 

 better than for some years past, and the stocks held by dealers 

 are, we are told, small. This would indicate a good demand 

 for the next crop, as the consumption is a growing one both for 

 domestic use and for oil and feeding purposes. We are strongly 

 of opinion that, if better methods of preparation of the land 

 and a better system of rotation were followed, and more con- 

 sideration were given to the requirements of the crop in the 

 way of fertilizers, much heavier crops would be grown than the 

 average now raised. The crop is an important one in Eastern 



