5 



4. H. Sherrwgii, Jenm. — Stem reaching 10 ft. high, 3-4 in. diameter ; stipites stout, 2-2^ ft. 1. 

 freely armed with short straight spines, dark chestnut, rusty furfuraceous, the upper side densely 

 clothed with dark castaneous attenuated pale-edged scales ; fronds ample, tripinnatifid, 5-6 ft. 1. 2\- 3 

 ft. w. pellucid, subcoriaceous, bright green, pale beneath, naked except on the ribs which are pubescent ; 

 rachis stout, prickly at the base, muiicate upwards, puberulous, rather scaly and furfuraceous m the 

 axils; pinnae acuminate, petiolate, 1^-2^ ft. 1. 7-9 in. w.; pinnulae contiguous, the outer and inner ra- 

 ther more apart, the inferior not quite sessile, 3J-5 in. 1. 1 in. or rather over w. the apex tapering to a 

 serrate-acuminate point, deeply pinnatifid almost to the costules ; segments 5-8 li. 1. 2-2| li. w., linear- 

 oblong, subfalcate, rounded, the inner open with a rounded or acute sinus between ; veins once forked 

 from near the base, 7-9 to a side ; sori inserted at the forking, forming a line against the midrib ; re- 

 ceptacles densely ciliate; involucres shallow, circular, the thin margins entire, lobed or incised. 



Rose Hill, in the Port Royal mountains, 4,000 ft. alt. collected by R. V. Sherring in 1886. A 

 large species, nearest allied to IVilsoni, from which its more robust growth, more deeply and uniformly 

 pinnatitid pinnules, all of which up to the pinnutiBd top of the pinnae are free at the base, and shallow 

 calycifonn involucres, distinguish it. The latter character shows a decided passage into Cyathea. 



( To be continued.) 



CURING NUTMEGS. 



The following letter has been received from a most successful Nutmeg grower in Grenada. The 

 details so very kindly and readily given, will be of great service to those who are beginning the export 

 of Nutmegs : — 



" In answer to your enquiry as to the mode adopted for preparing Nutmegs for the London Mar- 

 ket, I will tell you exactly what is done on my estate. The process is very simple. 



The Nutmegs are pioked up from under the trees every day except Sunday. On being brought 

 into the boucan, the mace is peeled off, and pressed flat between heavy blocKs of wood, where it is left 

 for 2 or 3 days, then put into a case and left, till it reaches the proper colour. 



The Nutmegs are put into receptacles (with fine-wire mesh bottoms, so that the air can pass,) 

 inside the boucan, and left there for three weeks or a month, in fact untii the nut begins to shake in- 

 side the shell. They are then shown the sun for a couple of hours a day for two or three daye. 

 After this they are cracked. Great care is necessary here, for if the outside shell is struck too hard it 

 makes a black spot in the Nutmeg which affects the value considerably. 



When cracked, the nuts are sorted according to size, put into ordinary flour barrels and shipped. 

 By last mail the average of my prices was about 2s. 6^d. a lb. In the shipment was included a case 

 of pure rubbish, small shrivelled worm-eaten nuts fetching about Is. lb." 



EXPERIMENTS IN THE CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLES.— III. 



Pbas. 



Results have already been published in. Bulletins 20 and 24, on the growth of Vegetables. The 

 tables given below are a continuation of those on the Peas, presented by Messrs. Carter of High Hol- 

 born, London. 



