eee 
56 
[Enctosure No. 2.] 
Messrs. JENKIN & PurLLIPs to Messrs. Howarp & Sons. 
21, xe ey d! E.C., 
GENTLEMEN, November 20, 1 
WE have examined the two samples of facia e offici- 
8, we are of an opinion that it would in nowise be bought and 
d for the same purposes as South American Loxa bark, the chief 
io for which is Paris, and where, if it is fine, they will pay a long 
price for it. 
The appearance, ke e and aroma of your samples are quite distinct 
from South America a. 
If your friends seis their bark over in e "iege unbroken quills, 
it would fetch at the moment 6d. to 7d. per p 
Messrs. Howard & Sons. (Signed) Jenkin & PHILLIPS. 
CXXXVII.—BARILLA. 
(Halogeton sativus, Moq.) 
Carbonate of soda is one of the most indispensable of substances in 
the serang arts. It is essential, for example, in glass ar 
making. Since the end of the last century it has been manufactured 
directly on a continually increasing scale from common salt (sodium 
chloride). Before this, most of the carbonate of soda in use was 
obtained by burning marine plants, which in their turn obtained it 
indirectly from sea-water 
EUR two kinds of i impur sodium carbonate, which were formerly met 
with in commerce, were known as kelp and. barilla. e former was 
ohiaiiád by burning mae the latter by burning various kinds of 
land-plants which grew in salt-marshes, and the representatives of which 
in this country were BEEE known as salt-worts. 
It is a well-ascertained fact that in the ash of inland plants soda is 
only found in very trifling amounts. Its function is therefore altogether 
different to that of potash, which is an indispensable ingredient of pearl 
food. Nevertheless, plants which are periodically moistened with sea- 
water, accumulate relatively large quantities of soda salts in their imeem 
But their presence, as far as the nutrition of the plants is concerned, mus 
be deemed to be wholly accidental. 
The principal seat of the Barilla industry was Spain and the Balearic 
Islands; but the ge. A Italy, and France are said also to have 
eon ntribu a part o e prod uction. It appears now to be almost 
obsolete, but to still asee in the ont i of Alicante. The 
Egyptian Government seem disposed to attempt it experimentally in 
some part of the Nile delta, and has recently isl for a supply of seed. 
ADMINISTRATION DES DOMAINES DE L'ETAT EaGxPTIEN to ROYAL 
Garpens, Kew. 
Sir, Cairo, 7th January 1890. 
I nave the honour to inform you that 4 at the request of Sir 
LT Bari ing, Her Britannie Majesty's Agent and Consul-General in 
Mr. Gibson, British Commissioner of the rn Linens State 
om supplied for Kew Gardens about 50 lbs, of cotto 
