2 



Tariety. It is not worth while cultivating the Catzim, Each variety 

 seems to keep its peculiarities. The Tinta Nera and the Tinta Maria 

 are both very valuable." 



Persian Berries. 



This dye-stufi is the dried unripe fruit of various species of 

 Rhamnus, growing wild, or cultivated in Persia, the Levant, and various 

 countries ot* southern Europe. 



Tue Persian Berry proper, obtained from Rhamnus amygdalinus, 

 R. oleoides, and R. saxatilis, &c., is imported from Smyrna and Aleppo. 

 Its size is about that of a pea, colour yellowish-green, surface much 

 shrivelled, hard, and divisible along well-marked depressions forming a 

 cross, into four parts, each containing a triangular seed ; its taste is 

 inten^iily bitter. 



Aviornon or French- berries, the product of R. infectorius and R. 

 alaternus, etc., are smaller in size than the foregoing, and contain only 

 two seeds. 



Spanish, Italian, and Hungarian-berries are respectively the pro- 

 ducts of R. saxatilis, R. infectorius, 'and R. cathartica. They are 

 similar in appearance and quality to the Avignon-berries. Other 

 qualities come from the Morea, Wallachia and Bessarabia. 



The true Persian-berries are the most highly esteemed, being 

 richest in colouring matter, which resides chiefly in the outer portion, 

 The best qualities are such as have been gathered in an unripe condition, 

 and have a yellowish-green colour ; if too yellow, however, they are 

 inferior, having been gathered in a riper condition ; while if brown or 

 black they are poor and worthless, being either over-ripe or injured or 

 damp during long storage. (Thorpe Diet, of Applied Chemistry) 

 Seeds have been obtained through the kind offices of the British Consul 

 at Smyrna. 



CENTRAL AMERICAN RUBBER. * 



{Castilloa elastica^ Cerv.) 



Some account of Castilloa rubber, and of the species producing it, 

 was given in the Kew Bulletin for 1887, pp. 13-16. ** Since then its 

 cultivation as a source of rubber-supply has attracted some attention in 

 Mexico and the West Indies. It has not, however, been easy to obtain 

 any trustworthy data as to the practical methods to pursue or as to the 

 cost and return to be expected. The following account is therefore re- 

 printed from the United States Consular Reports (May, 1899, pp. 147- 

 151). It appears to have been drawn up by a man conversant with the 

 subject and with a good deal of care : — 



" Consul-General Beaupre sends from Guatemala, under date of 



* Kew Bulletin, 1899, page 159. 

 * * See Jamaica Bulletin, 1895, page 34 ; 1899, pp. 73, 85, 



