— 30 — 



not particularly heavy, Smith recommends the cultivation of the grass 

 in Papua, in the same manner as in Java, namely between india rubber 

 and cocoa nut trees. 



We have in our Reports 1 ) repeatedly alluded to the difficulties 

 which exist in an exact differentiation of the individual Andropogon or 

 oil grasses, and which appear almost insuperable in view of the many 

 varieties and transition forms. These difficulties have come to the 

 front particularly in recent times, when the oils obtained from the 

 grasses in question meet with an increasing amount of interest, and 

 when frequent trials are made to cultivate the grasses supplying the 

 individual oils, both in their own habitat and also specially in other 

 tropical countries. In view of the deficient knowledge of the individual 

 grasses, such cultivation-trials have led to frequent disappointments, 

 inasmuch as apparently identical plants yielded totally different oils. 

 For this reason botanists have repeatedly endeavoured to do away 

 with the existing contradictions, but up to the present without suc- 

 ceeding in actually clearing up the question. 



With an industry worthy of acknowledgment, and even far more 

 important results, Dr. Otto Stapf has now approached the solution 

 of the problem; he has made a thorough study of the individual grasses, 

 and has put down his observations and conclusions in a work entitled: 

 "The Oil-Grasses of India and Ceylon" 2 ). If — as Stapf 

 himself emphasises — his work cannot lay claim to absolute com- 

 pleteness, as further thorough observations are needed to make it so, 

 yet what has been so far attained, clears up many questions which 

 had hitherto remained unanswered, and it may be taken for granted 

 that the uncertainty which has prevailed on this subject up to the 

 present will soon disappear completely, the more so, as the impulse 

 given by Stapf will no doubt induce many others to take up the 

 study of the oil-grasses. It is to be hoped that Stapf's work will 

 have this practical result, that the oil-distillers will also acquire a more 

 complete understanding of the individual varieties, and that more 

 attention will be paid than hitherto to the working up of a uniform 

 plant-material. For his examinations Stapf has had at his disposal 

 an, if not exhaustive, at least very voluminous observation -material, and 

 this, as well as a thorough study of the individual grasses, have had 

 a directly decisive effect on the results of Stapf's work. The further 

 elucidation of this question will probably be greatly assisted by the 

 fact that Stapf has completely broken with the present nomenclature 



*) Reports April 1903, 23; October 1904, 52; April 1905, 55. 

 2 ) Published in the Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, Royal Botanic 

 Gardens, Kew, 1906, No. 8, p. 297. 



