5 



Scale Insects. 



Stems of Orange tree3, castor oil plants, and cassava have been received covered with scale insects. 

 Orange trees growing at low elevations, or which are in an unhealthy state due to various causes, such 

 as attacks from worms at their roots, seem to be especially liable to be affected with scale insects. 

 Mr. Hubbard, the Agent of the United States Agricultural Department in Florida, has been very suc- 

 cessful in his treatment for the destruction of these insects. He uses a kerosene and soap emulsion 

 made up as follows : — 



Kerosene ... 2 gallons 



Common or soft soap ... \ pound 



Water ... 1 gallon 



" Heat the solution of soap and add it boiling hot to the kerosene. Churn the mixture by means of a 

 force-pump and spray-nozzle for 5 or 10 minutes. The emulsion, if perfect, forms a cream, which 

 thickens on cooling, and should adhere without oiliness to the surface of glass. Dilute, before using, 

 one part of the emulsion with 9 parts of cold water. The above formula gives 3 gallons of emulsion, 

 and makes, when diluted 30 gallons of wash. 



It is necessary in order to have a proper emulsion, that there should be violent agitation. A 

 moderate amount of churning forms an apparent union between the oil and kerosene, but they separate 

 a«ain on standing, or when diluted. " The emulsion can be very quickly and easily made by u>ing a 

 good force-pump, so constructed that it can be inserted directly into the liquid which must be kept in 

 constant and violent agitation by forcing it through some form of spray-nozzle back into the same 

 receptacle." Unemulsified kerosene would probably injure the plants. 



The kerosene emulsion may also b3 used against worms or insects attacking roots. 

 The spray-nozzle recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture is the eddy or 

 cyclone nozzle, invented by Dr. Barnard, an assistant in the Entomological Division. "With the 

 ' Aquapult' pump imd ' Cyclone' nozzle, 4 gallons of wash is sufficient for 30 nursery trees of 1 and 

 2 years from the bud. Bearing trees of full size will require from 5 to 10 gallons of wash." 



C— NOTES ON ECONOMIC PLANTS. 



Coca — It is reported that Coca leaves (Erythroxylon Coca) are becoming a recognised article of 

 export from Peru, a demand having " sprung up for them for the manufacture of cocaine now so much 

 used in surgical operations for killing pain." The quantity exported from Mollindo during the year 

 amounted to 705 quintals, valued at 17,625 dollars. — Gardeners Chronicle. 



D.— INTERESTING PLANTS IN FLOWER OR FRUIT AT CASTLETON GARDEN. 



The Victoria Water Lily (Victoria regia) is now in flower and fruit. This noble plant was first 

 discovered in the beginning of the century by the botanist Haenke and Father La Cueva in South 

 America, but it was not till Sir Robert Schomburgk found it in the River Berbice in British Guiana in 

 1837 that it was brought into public notice, and described. It received by permission the name of 

 the young Queen. When the flower is fully expanded, the outer petals are bent outwards and down- 

 wards, while the central petals, rose-coloured, remain erect ; and thus a noble appearance is presented, 

 as of a central rose-coloured crown supported by a series of pure white and gracefully curved petals. 

 The leaves are circular in outline, 6 to 12 feet in diameter, with upturned rims 2 to 5 inches high. The 

 lower surface of the leaves is traversed by several prominent nerves, which contain air-canals The 

 leaves are thus well-adapted for the purpose of floating and keeping the plant always on the surface 

 whatever the change of water-level ; in fact they will support a very considerable weight if placed on a 

 board so as to spread the pressure. 



Barringtonia speciosa, a tree of the myrtle family, 40 to 50 feet high. Its flowers are large and 

 handsome, a conspicuous feature being the numerous stamens, forming a long tassel in the centre, white 

 below and carmine at the tips. A lamp-oil is expressed from the seeds which are now ripe. This tree 

 is a native of the Malay Archipelago and Australasia, being generally found near the sea. 



The Sierra Leone Peach (Sarcocephalus esculentus) sent here from Kew is now in fruit The ar- 

 rangement of the flowers is peculiar ; they are grouped in a head and are fused with one another and 

 with the receptacle into a fleshy mass, afterwards the fruit. 



E — NOTES ON SOME PLANTS LATELY RECEIVED. 



Seeds of Ceropcgia pusilla have been re:eived from Kew with the following note from Mr. Morris. 

 " Besides the flowers which may be interesting in a West Indian Garden, the tubers of this plant are, 

 according to Mr. Jumieson of Ootacamund, eaten both raw and boiled by the natives in the Nilgiris." 



The Superintendent of the Forest Department, Singapore, has kindly sent seeds of a rare Palm, 

 the Malawarin or Red-stemmed Palm of the Malayan Peninsula (Cyrtostachys Rendah). He speaks of 

 it as follows : — " The plant is doubtless the most conspicuous and beautiful object the rich forests here 

 possess. When planted on a lawn in suitable soil it readily throws up a succession of stems from the 

 bottom of the parent stem and thus grows into a pyramid covered with leaf spathes of a dazzling bright 

 red : these, when suddenly come upon in the forest standing out against a back ground of deep green, 

 present an object not soon erased from the memory of the beholder." 



