Miscellaneous, 2 



rnenal size, together with sugar=cane and 

 maize of good quality, helped to fill a 

 particularly interesting little shed. 



THE RATE OF GROWTH OF 

 PALMYRAS, 



(From the Indian Forester, Vol. XXXV., 

 Nos, 6 & 7, June and July, 1909.) 



Sir, — I read with much concern Mr. 

 A. W. Lushington's article on the 

 above in the March number of the Indian 

 Forester, A great portion of this dis- 

 trict depends almost entirely on the 

 palmyra for its timber, and if it really 

 takes 300 years to grow a palmyra tree, 

 we are indeed in a parlous state. I, 

 however, derived some consolation from 

 the fact that palmyra trees, in this dis- 

 trict, do not attain a height of 100 feet. 

 They probably are never allowed to do 

 so, as they usually give mature timber 

 when 50 to 60 feet high. Still a tree of 

 60 feet would take about 200 years to 

 grow, and that is more than three times 

 as long as I had reckoned on. 



A short time before, when making en- 

 quiries about the age of palmyra trees, 

 I had been informed by one of my 

 Rangers that a tree planted in his 

 father's back-yard when he was a little 

 boy, is now about 40 feet high : that 

 is, it had grown 40 feet in about 80 

 years. According to Mr. Lushington's 

 estimate, and allowing for the formation 

 of underground stem, the tree would 

 not have been 10 feet high in the time. 

 Of course one mast take statements of 

 this sort cum grano salis, but it requires 

 a deal of salt to digest 30 feet of palmyra 

 tree. 



I, therefore, began looking about on 

 my own account. One of the first things 

 that I noticed was that some trees, 20 to 

 25 feet high, retained the dead sheaths 

 and leaf stalks right down to the ground, 

 I marvelled greatly ; for the bottom- 

 most of these dead stalks must be 80 to 

 100 years old ! Next I examined some 

 leaves freshly removed from a tree by 

 toddy tappers. It struck me that the 

 sheath looked, uncommonly, as if it had 

 completely surrounded the stem when 

 first formed, and that it had split up the 

 back as the stem expanded. I then ex- 

 amined the " spiral " annulations on the 

 stem, and to my great surprise I dis- 

 covered that they are not spiral at all, 

 but a series of separate rings, each quite 

 distinct from the one above and below it, 

 Now, if the tree produces twelve leaves 

 during the year — there are three leave 

 to each ring— why should there be a 



; [September, 1909. 



gap after each set of three ? One could 

 understand it if the three leaves were 

 produced simultaneously at intervals of 

 three months, but that is not the case. 

 Mr. Lushington says that a fresh leaf is 

 formed every month, and this I believe 

 to be the fact. If then, three of these 

 leaves form an annulation, there is no 

 reason why that annulation should stop 

 after the third ; it must go on as a conti- 

 nuous spiral, at all events, until the 

 year's growth is completed. The only 

 explanation that occurs to me is that 

 each separate leaf forms a separate annu- 

 lation, and as there are twelve leaves 

 formed in a year, twelve annulations 

 correspond to a year's growth. The * 

 annulations average roughly 1 to 1£ inch 

 each, and a tree therefore grows about 

 a foot or more in the year. This rate 

 of growth corresponds to the popular 

 belief that a palmyra tree matures at 

 about 60 years, 



A. B. JACKSON. 



THE INTERNATIONAL AGRICUL- 

 TURAL INSTITUTE. 



(From the Journal of the Board of Agri- 

 culture, Vol. XVI., No. 4, July, 1909.) 



The International Agricultural Insti- 

 tute was established at Rome in 1905, 

 and an account of its formation, [and of 

 the objects aimed at, appeared in this 

 Journal in June, 1906 (p. 129). A Parlia- 

 mentary Paper has now been issued 

 which supplies information as to the 

 steps which have since been taken in 

 regard to its establishment. This publi- 

 cation contains a report by Sir Thomas 



H. Elliot, k.c.b., who was one of the 

 British delegates to the General As- 

 sembly of the Institute, together with 

 the correspondence which has passed 

 between the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries and the Foreign Office on the 

 subject. 



By the munificence of His Majesty the 

 King of Italy, a beautif ul building has 

 been erected for the purposes of the Insti- 

 tute in the grounds of the Villa Umberto 



I. , formerly the Villa Borghese. This 

 building contains large rooms for meet- 

 ings in the central portion, while the 

 wings contain the offices, library, and 

 the rooms which will be occupied by the 

 foreign delegates. It was opened by His 

 Majesty in person on 23rd May, 1908, 

 and subsequently the Permanent Com- 

 mittee held several meetings at which 

 the work of the Institute was discussed, 

 and various sub-committees were ap- 

 pointed. 



