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25 to 33 per cent. over the open vienne and secures better results, 
that it is nearly automatie, one man easily operating all its parts, 
and that the saving in labour osi exceeds 10 per cent. on a sum 
twice greater than the total cost of the system. 
Chemical control in the sugar houses is still somewhat ghee 
although there are marked indications of a desire on the part of 
mill managers to have resident chemists to check all losses,” 
Ceroxylon andicola.—Mr. R. B. White, an old correspondent of 
Kew, sends the following interesting account of what appears to 
be a well-marked local variety of this palm :— 
MR. R. B. WHITE to ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 
Tulua, Department of Cau 
Republic of Oslomkis; 
DEAR SIR, December 1st, 1897. 
I SEND you by parcel post some seeds of what I believe to 
be an interesting variety of Ceroxi Lt andicola. This palm, as 
Bas know, is found only in the Cent ndes. = inferior limit 
s 7,000 ft. with a mean Re of 60°, but it is most 
abundant at 8 ,000 to 9,000 ft. with a temperature of 55° to 57°. 
m of which 1 send you s seed is found in the Western 
Ande s 60 piles south of Cali, in the valley of Cajamarca on the 
Pacific watershed. It is most abundant at an elevation of 5,500 ft. 
a mean beh a of 67° to 68°. Good sugar-cane grows 
alongside of it 
The flo owers, fruit, hoe are similar to those of C. andicola, but 
the tree is very distin It has no base of fasciculated rootlets as 
andicola has, but rin clear feo om the ground. The stem is 
slighter and not so tall as andicola, and I should say that 150 ft. _ 
is the average height. The leaves are 20-25 ft. long, but much _ 
slighter and lighter than andicola, and there is only just sufficient 
white scale on the underside of the pinnz to give them a whitish 
colour. Whilst the leaf is not fully formed and hardened the 
pinne are joined together at the points by a slender thread, as in 
some Attaleas and iere and I have not noticed this peculiarity 
in undicola. The wax which coats the stem is as abundant as 
in andicola, but rien different in composition ; it has an agree- 
able à when rubbed or burned which the wax of andicola 
has n it is more brittle, ien would seem to indicate a 
larger Proportion of resin. I send you a small sample, = if ite 
nd it to be worth experimen dng upon I can send mor 
The resinous und fatty matters ought, I think, to be Gitna 
separately. 
The fact of this paim growing in a warmer climate ought to 
make its acclimatisation easier, and it may turn out to be more 
> le t andicola. 
I should mention that the farinaceous pulp within the rind 
covering the seeds is slightly bitter, but the hogs do not mind 
this and avidly devour the whole ms and fatten well upon it. 
A palm yields here about 800 1 8. of fruit in two flowerings 
annually. In other countries it sing only flower once, producing, 
