81 
been introduced years ago by Sir John Kirk. Fm m seeds from these 
pods, I regret very much to say, failed to germin 
A fuller vti of the present condition of " puti is contained 
in the following notes of a recent visit, taken from the Zanzibar Gazette 
of the 28th padua 1894 :— 
* Mr. Crabbe, the Ceylon planter who was passing through here last 
week on his way to Nyassaland, paid a special visit to to Mbweni for the 
purpose of noting the condition ae we coffee plantations started by Sir 
John Kirk at the close of his tim 
“Mr. Crabbe was well plisa with the condition of many of the 
tions, which were duly transmitted to the Rev. J. Key, who takes great 
LP in the plantation, but who was unfortunately away from home 
nt the time. 
* sn tea which is now in full blossom and affords a pretty sight es 
worth a drive to visit, Mr. Crabbe considered a poor kind and fo 
leaf hardly worth growing, and he did not recommend its extension. 
“The cacao he considered planted in too win dy a site, but walking 
about the shamba agi oy s many spots on which he thought it could 
be planted to better a 
In the Zanzibar Daa of the 11th September 1895, there is an 
appreciative review of Sir John Kirk’s work in East Aries His 
services to botany and hor Heier are referred to as follows :— 
* Besides these main beca of his rule, minor affairs at the island 
were his constant solicitude. Agri ieulture, horticulture, experime ental 
planting, the rearing of | bodie specimens, all engaged his attention. 
« The specimens of imported plants still to 5h seen in his old shamba 
at Mbweni, full of interest to the interested visitor € is lucky enough 
to find them, show how keen was his enthusiasm for the adornment of 
the place, while his efforts to establish a profitable anis in for the 
natives in rig name: with coffee planting, and aloe fibre manufacture 
may even yet bear fruit. Hardly is pom a flower displayed upon a 
hi 
ta 
island to Sir John Kirk; and had je remained 2 with all the 
opportunities the place affords, Zanzibar might now be a floral and 
big ss as it is, his memory will be kept ka green in this 
way a 
In a private letter, dated €— 16, 1895, Sir John Kirk wrote :— 
* My garden at Mbweni is comin t last to be appreciated, and after 
eigliteen years my coffee plantation, ides supplied me with coffee when 
there, is now likely to be the source of an poet to relieve the depen- 
dence on the clove which is the danger of the islan coffees all 
came from Kew ; they are Liberian and do splendidly.” 
Almost every economic production of East Africa has at one time or 
another received attention from Sir John Kirk. "He virtually created 
the rubber trade of the east coast. This has attained in some years to a 
value of over 200,0007. The piants yielding the rubber discovered 
g him are enumerated in the Kew Report for 1880 (pp. 39 
to 42). 
Again, plants of the East African pig Trachylobium hornemann- 
éanum,were received from him, as well as specimens of the Bark cloth of 
Uganda (Kew Bulletin, 1 1892, p. 58) ; Rew’ is also indebted to him for 
u 91285. B 
