310 NOTES ON ECONOMIC PLANTS. 



care, and should figure among Colonial products. Plants 

 raised from seed are reported to grow well, but to have no 

 scent, but retain it when produced from cuttings. I have 

 not been able to verify these statements, but it is well known 

 that plants do sometimes pl?y tricks of this kind — Sandal- 

 wood frequently. 



Tonqltn Bean [Dipterix odorata). — A plant of this, re- 

 ceived trom Kew some three years ago, has made very fair 

 growth, being now about ten feet in height. 



GUINEA Corn [Sorghum vulgar e). — A quantity of seeds 

 of Guinea Corn was received during the year from His 

 Excellency the Governor. The plant grew well and produced 

 an abundance of fruit, but the seeds were so much attacked 

 by insects when near maturity that it was with difficulty a 

 sufficiency was saved to retain the plant in stock. It is said 

 to succeed well wherever Indian Corn will grow. The plant 

 is of rapid growth and makes excellent fodder. 



INDIAN Corn {Zea mays). — Indian Corn tried in the Nur- 

 sery grew with great ease and ripened fine heads of fruit. 

 Why the plant is not more largely cultivated here is difficult 

 to understand. The plant comes to maturity in about sixty 

 days, which admits of numerous crops in a year being reaped 

 under energetic treatment. 



TREE TOMATO (Cyphomandra betacea) ") These two 



MOUNTAIN Papaya [Carica candamarcensis) ) excellent 

 fruits have been introduced, but a proper place to plant them 

 has not yet been procured. They would no doubt grow ad- 

 mirably on the Thaeping Range in Perak at about four 

 thousand feet elevation, or on the Selangor hills, and be 

 within range of practical use. I hope to obtain permission 

 to plant them there under my personal directions. I had the 

 advantage of seeing both of these fruits growing when lately 

 at Hakgala in Ceylon, and of tasting them, and can testify to 

 their excellence. The fruit of the mountain Papaya had some 

 of the flavour of a peach and a very agreeable odour. Some 

 of the Papaya plants I observed had partly left mother earth 

 and were establishing themselves as sub-epiphytes, growing 



