7 



The Cananga ( C. odorata) is a native of Ava, Tenasserim, Java and the Philippines, but it is cul- 

 tivated as an ornamental tree throughout India and the Tropics. It is a tall tree with straight trunk 

 and smooth ashy bark. The flowers are drooping, of a greenish yellow colour, fragrant and about 

 three inches in length. It belongs to the sani3 family ( Anonacece) as the Sweet Sop, but the fruit is 

 not edible. 



Caryota (urens) is an Indian Palm 50 or 60 feet high. It is so valuable to the natives of India and 

 Ceylon that it is largely cultivated The inner portion of the stem is soft, and contains largo quantities 

 of starch which is made into an excellent sago. The natives make bread of this, and also a kind of 

 thick gruel. During the hot season it yields an abundance of toddy or palm wine, the best trees giving 

 according to Roxburgh, as much as 100 pints i'i 2-1 hours. This toddy is used, not only as a drink, 

 but more important still, to make a kind of sugar, call.-d jaggery. The leaves and leaf -stalks aff>rd the 

 Kittul Fibre, the Indian Gut of the English market, which is very strong, and made into ropes, fishing- 

 nets, lines, brushes, brooms, baskets, &c. It is said to be also useful in the manufacture of paper. 

 The ropes used for capturing and tying wild elephants arc made of this fibre. 



H. — NOTES ON SOME RECENT ACQUISITIONS. 

 Para Rubber. 



i a 



Mr. Morris writes from Kew Gardens as follows : — 



"By this mail we are sending you a small box containing seeds of Ilevea brasiliensis (Para rubber) 

 which have been obtained for you from Ceylon. This tree is likely to thiive in warin humid districts, 

 like Bath and Black River, and I have no doubt will prove eventually a useful introduction. There is 

 a tree in bearing at Castleton but doubtless you will be glad of a further supply of seed." 



\^ PHCKNIX PAI.UDOSA. 



Seeds of this palm have also been received from Kew. The stem is 12 to 15 feet high, 3 or 4 

 inches in diameter. It is a native of the Sunderbunds, at the mouth of the R. Ganges. It grows 

 only in swampy land, generally in tidal streams and brackish water. 



Cedron. 



Mr Hart sends from Trinidad a fruit of Simaba, Cedron. The Cedron of commerce is the kernel 

 of the stone. From time immemorial it has been prescribed as a remedy for the bites of snakes, scor- 

 pions, &c. Inhabitants of New Grenada, where the tree is a native, always carry a piece^of tke seed 

 with them. If they happen to be bitten, a small portion is scraped off and applied with water to the 

 wound, and about 2 grains of the powder mixed with brandy is taken internally. The active principle 

 has been named cedrine. There is no doubt that it possesses febrifugal properties, and is successfully 

 prescribed in New Grenada in cases of intermittent fever. 



I. — THE VALUE OF THE CULTIVATION OF TIMBER. 



How fatal are the results which attend careless indifference on this point is singularly shown by what 

 has followed in Italy on the disforesting of the once well-wooded peninsula. Not alone have the recent 

 terrible inundations in the north of Italy been directly traced to this cause, but ihc fatal aria eattiva, 

 the poisonous breath of the marsh lands which has within 20 years or so invaded almost every province 

 of the peninsula, now reigns supreme driving from the once fertile plains thousands of the unhappy in- 

 habitants. Here we see the direct influence of false economy in this one direction. When we consider 

 in addition that Italy could undoubtedly, by proper management, grow a large portion of the timber 

 which at present she has to import, we see another direction in which a false economy has impoverished 

 and impoverishes an already poor nation. England, without having reached this sad position, cannot be 

 said to be beyond blame. There exists in our country many a broad stretch of land which, by the action 

 of science, might be rendered productive, and at the same time beautiful. The growth of timber is not of 

 a nature to tempt the speculative demands of modern private initiative ; it is for this reason ttiat it be- 

 hoves Government, or, at least, local authorities, to take up the question. They, at least, standing vir- 

 tually independent of the consideration of immediate gain, are the only fit instruments by which such 

 work can be done ; but the system once set in order, the returns, it is evident, will bj no less regular, 

 even more so than from the ordinary sources of profit. A close study of the matter — au enquiry 

 into the admirable methods adopted on the Continent, in France, in Belgium, and in Germany, would 

 form an interesting subject of inquiry either for some Government commission or for some privately 

 appointed body. The question is one of something more than passing interest. Whence are we to ob- 

 tain our supply of timber ? Nature unaided will soon cease to be able to satisfy our demands, but we 

 have here another of the many instances where science intelligently directed can solve the difficulty, and 

 thus once again be of the utmost service to the worldj not alone practically, but aesthetically. — Builder. 



