208 
was the fact that in the Cow-itch plant the jfi are densely 
covered with stinging hairs of a brownish colour. A Tes 80 
T armed, ‘it was thought, eodd t not safely be recommended 
or general ee tion. The name first given, Dolichos AEE EE 
es Boykinii), was clearly wrong. In these circumstances we 
nd from the Queensland Agricultural Journal, 
‘vol. ii., pp. 370-371 (with a pinte) ee the plant has tower ed and 
fruit ed in that colony, and that Mr. F. M. Bailey, F.L.S., the 
Colonial Botanist, has identified it 25 Mucuna pare var. 
utilis. In this variety of the Cow-itch plant the pods are 
apparently devoid of stinging hairs. It is probably M. utilis of 
Wall., described in the Flora of British India (vol. ii., p. 187), as 
?* 
“a cultivated variety " with ridic: not hairy pods. This is 
figure ghts Icones (vol. i., t. 280). According to Watt's 
Dictionary of the Economic Pr oducts of India, “the young tender 
pods are cooked and eaten as a vegetable.” What may also prove 
to be the same plant, biis jet black seeds, is cultivated as a rotation 
erop on sugar estates poiner ens under the name of “ Pois 
Mascate.” The ac ise given by interested parties in a rica 
ee the agricultural value of the Florida velvet bean, must 
e received with cau It is undoubtedly a rapid iré ad and 
affórds a large yield s "uüteiiods forage. It bears an bee vig nt 
crop of seed ga is therefore readily propagated. It may also, in 
common with many other leguminous Lir. possess the power 
o obtaining its nitrogen from the atmosphere, and thus be 
mirably adapte ed for green crop manuring. How far it may be 
forind TIS in these respects to other plants it is es e 
say. As it is now being carefully tested in various part 
tropies, it Would be well to await reports which will, no doubt "he 
shortly issued on the subject. 
ean while it may be useful to mention some of the more 
prominent leguminous plants that have long been used in tropical 
countries, both ne ern and western, as rotation erops for fodder 
green manuring : (1) Vigna Catiang, the Chowlee of India, 
the Tow Cok he China and the Cow pea of the West Indies ; of this 
there are several varieties with black and clay-coloured seeds ; 
(2) Cajanus Sidious: the Pigeon pea (the small form is known as 
the No-eye pea and the large as Congo pea); this is laiene 
grown in St. Kitts and elsewhere in the West Indie ** gree 
dressing" on sugar estates ; (3) Phaseolus orans “he FORE or 
Lima bean known in Mauritius as “ Pois d'aché pU ; “it remains 
ripe beans are igh Scie regarded a; as poisonous ; (4) Dolichos 
lablab, t the e Madagascar or Lablab bean, this is known in Mauritius 
as the “ Antaque" ; (5) Dolichos pui ‘pureus, ai eg a Morbi of 
the latter known in Queensland as the Poor M; °) 
Phaseolus Mi — the green gram of India, known in 
Woolly Pyroe." This is planted “after the canes are reaped quer 
afterwards tone] in a8 a green dressing." 
