112 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1889. 
Timber Diseases. — At the Royal Society conversazione, 
held on May 8, among the curiosities exhibited, 
were, says Nature, various parasitic fungi, by Prof. 
H. Marshall Ward. These specimens included: 
piece of deal with grey mycelium of Merulius 
lacrymans, causing the common "dry rot " of timber ; 
and a similar piece of timber attacked by the white 
mycelium of Polypoius vaporarius, another and quite 
different fungus, which produces a form of " dry rot ;" 
portion of Piue-stem infected with Peridermium pint, 
the iEcidium form of Coleosporium senecionis — the 
other form of this parasite is found on various species 
of Groundsel (it does much damage to the Pines in 
some forests, producing so-called "cankers" as dis- 
astrous as those of the "Larch disease"); specimen 
of "Wheat infested by Usiilago carbo (U. segetum), 
showing the destruction of the ears by the fungus, 
the black spores of which completely occupy the in- 
terior of the grain ; specimen of grass attacked by 
Epichloe typhina, a destructive ascomycetous fungus 
which infests the flowering shoots of pasture grasses ; 
culture specimens of Sclerotia developed from species 
of Botrytis, which destroy certain garden plants. 
Microse pic preparations of these were also exhibited. 
— Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Dyes in " Kew Bulletin." — The May number con- 
tains an account of the yellow-flowered Delphinium Zalil, 
the flowers of which are used for dyeing silk, and which 
has already been noted in these columns. A report 
on Tasmanian timber follows, showing that many of 
them have great value for constructional purposes. 
Among food curiosities may be mentioned Lily flow- 
ers ; no smaller quantity than 7,000,000 lb. are ex- 
ported from Ohiu Kiang. The species employed are 
Lilium bulbiferum and Hemerocallis graminea, the 
dried flowers of which are employed for flavouring 
soup. The bulbs of Lilium cordifolium are also 
used for the starch that they contain. P'u-erh Tea, 
used in Yuq Nan, South-west China, consists of the 
leaves of a shrub which cannot, for want of adequate 
material, be accurately identified, but which is sup- 
posed to be the Assam Tea plant. The Yam Bean 
(Pachyrhizus angulatus), a Central American legu- 
minous plaut, is valuable for its edible pods, which 
form a good substitute for French Beans, and whose 
tuberous roots are also edible, and furnish starch. 
Lastly, a complete list of British and Colonial gar- 
dens, with the names of tneir officers, is given. The 
Edinburgh Botanic Garden is something more than 
a University garden, while we are afraid Glasgow is, 
or was till recently, something less. — Gardeners' 
Chronicle. 
Madras Tobacco.— Madras tobacco has already be- 
come well established in many parts of India. A 
very large quantity is annually exported to Burma, 
whence it is returned to India under the name of 
Burma cheroots, the wrappers alone consisting of Burma 
tobacco. To encourage the growth of the best sorts, 
the Madras Agri-Horticultural Society have for some 
years been in the habit of giving two silver medals 
annually for the best specimens of Dindigul and Lunka 
tobacco, but it has now been determined to increase 
the nnmber of such medals to four. These are to be 
given for the best cured Dmdigul and Luuka tobacco, 
for the best cheroots and for the best pipe tobacco res- 
pectively. Each exhibit of tobacco is to contain not 
less than ten pounds of leaf, and each exhibit of 
cheroots is to consist of one hundred of five different 
shapes, or five hundred in all, and the exhibitor of 
cheroots is to state the price at which he is prepared 
to sell ten thousand of each shape. Each exhibit of 
tobacco is to be of not less than twenty pounds ready 
for smoking. Considering the great quantity of to- 
bacco which is grown in Bengal, and of which also 
large exports are ma le to Burma, it might be worth 
the consideration of our A«ri-Horticultural Society 
whi ther they should not follow the example of the 
Hister society and offer medals for the encouragement 
of the growth and manufacture of tobacco in this 
province. — Englishman, 
Forests ok Central Africa.— . . . From about 
3" N. to about 4<? S., and between the Upper Congo 
on the west and the lakes on the east, we have, 
says Nature, in commenting upon Mr. Stanley's recent 
wonderful journey, virtually a great blank. It is the 
northern part of this blank which Mr. Stanley has 
enabled us to fill in.. .. One thing is clear, the expedi- 
tion passed through the northern section of what is 
probablv the greatest forest region in Africa, extend- 
ing from about 3° N. to 4° S., and from about 23° to 
30° E . The route, he tells us, was covered with 
creepers varying from § inch to 15 inches in thickness, 
swinging across the path in bowlines or loops, some- 
times matted and twisted together ; also with a low, 
dense brush occupying the sites of old clearings which 
bad to be carved through before a passage was possible. 
Where the clearings had been abandoned for some 
years was found a young forest, the spaces between 
the trees choked with climbing pl-mts and vegetable 
creepers. This had to be tunnelled through before an 
inch of progress could be made. Mr. Stanley's 
description of the character and extent of this forest 
in his letter to Mr. Bruce is quite worth quoting: — 
"Take a thick Scottish copse, dripping with rain; 
imagine this copse to be a mere undergrowth, nour- 
ished under the impenetrable shade of ancient trees, 
rauging from" 100 to 180 feet high; Briers and Thorns 
abundant ; lazy creeks meandering through the depths 
of the jungle, and sometimes a deep affluent of a 
great river. Imagine this forest and jungle in all 
stages of decay and growth — old trees falling, leaning 
perilously over, fallen prostrate ; ants and insects of 
all kinds, sizes, and colours murmuring around, monkeys 
and chimpanzees above, queer noises of birds and 
animals, crashes in the jungle as troops of elephants 
rush away ; dwarfs with poisoned arrows securely 
hidden behind some buttress or in some dark recesB ; 
strong brown-bodied aborigines with terribly sharp 
spears, standing poised, still as dead stumps; rain 
pattering down on you every other day in the year; 
an impure atmosphere, with its dread consequences, 
fever and dysentery ; gloom throughout the day, and 
darkness almost palpable throughout the night ; and 
then if you will imagine such a forest extending the 
entire distance from Plymouth to Peterhead, you will 
have a fair idea of some of the inconveniences endured 
by us from June 28 to December 5, 1887, and from 
June 1, 1888, to the present date, to continue again 
from the present date till about December 10, 1888, 
when. I hope then to say a last farewell to the Congo 
forest ! . . . The mornings generally were stern and 
sombre, the sky covered with lowering and heavy 
clouds; at other times thick mist buried everything, 
clearing off about 9 a. m., sometimes not till 11 a. m. 
Nothing stirs then ; insect life is still asleep, the forest 
is still as death, the dark river, darkened by lofty 
walls of thick forest and vegetation, is silent as a grave ; 
our heart-throbs seem almost clamorous, and our inmost 
thoughts loud. If no rain follows this darkness, the 
sun appears from behind the cloudy masses, the mist 
disappears, life wakens up before its brilliancy. Butter- 
flies skurry through the air, a solitary ibis croaks an 
alarm, a diver flies across the stream, the forest is 
full of a strange murmur, and somewhere up-river 
booms the alarum drum. The quick-sighted natives 
have seen us, voices vociferate challenges, there is a 
flash of spears, and hostile passions are aroused ! . . . 
Another fact of great interest Mr. Stanley refers 
to— the existence of a snowy mountain which may 
rival Kilimanjaro (19,000 feet), in the neighbourhood 
of Mount Gatnbaragara, or Gordon Bennett, between 
Albert Nyanza and Muta Nzige. This may be Mount 
Gorden Bennett itself, but Mr. Stanley does not think 
so, and he is supported by the few data which he 
furnishes.... The abruptness with which the forest 
comes to an end and the rich grass lands begin, about 
eighty miles from Albert Nyanza, is another point 
deserving special attention, and can only be explained 
when we have accurate observations of the rainfall 
and other conditions that gj to form climate. [We 
most earnestly hope that good collections of plants 
have been made by the expedition, for there, must 
be much that is novel and interesting in the forests 
so graphically described by Mr. Stanley.] — Gardeners 1 
Chronicle. 
