October i, i88g.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
293 
FEU IT Ac, IN NATAL. 
(JFromthe Annual Eeport of the Durban Botanic Society 
for the year ending Dec SI, 1888.) 
Natal Botanic Gardens, 
Durban, January, 1889. 
The Litchi tree flowered well, and promised a good 
crop of fruit, but eventually the outer Bkin cracked, 
the fruit fell off, or was attacked by the " Peach 
moth" (Ef/yholis Vaillantiana), and was sour and uneat- 
able; the failure also of the Sapodilla to set its 
fruit may perhaps be partly attributed to the same 
cause. 
This is the so-called "Mahogany" tree of the 
Transvaal and Delagoa Bay distiicts. It is a legu- 
minous plant, yielding a valuable wood ; the seeds 
also are said to contain an oil, and are thought by 
the natives to be poisonous ; they are black, wilh a 
scarlet base, and several are contained in a hai'd 
woody pod. Our plants are healthy, but apparently 
of but slow growth. 
The "Toon" tree or "Singapore cedar." It reaches 
a height of 200 feet, and jields a wood which is 
valuable, and susceptible of a high polish, it is easily 
worked, and is used for cabinet work of various kinds. 
Our plaut was put out in 1886, and is now about 
six feet high. 
Oreecentia cujete. Jamaica. Calabash tree. 
The hard shells of the fruit of this tree are used 
by the natives of tropical America for a variety of 
purposes, and are often carved and polished, taking 
the place of crockery ware ; the pulp of the fruit is 
used medicinally. Our plant is now about four feet 
high, and growing fairly well. 
Melia azadirachta. India. " Margosa tree." 
This is the tree which in India is called the " Neem," 
or '' Margosa " tree, and a kind of toddy is extracted 
from it by tapping ; from its fruit an oil is obtained, 
which is said to be valuable. The plant has grown 
well, and seems to be as much at home here as its 
near relative, M. azederach, the so-called " Syringa." 
This handsome banana reaches a height of about 
30 feet, with leaves occasionally 20 feet in length and 
3 feet wide ; the fruit, however, is pulpless and 
uneatable, it r'oes not produce suckers, and having 
flowered, and ripened its seed, it dies, and can only 
be reproduced by seed. 
Musa textilis. Manila. 
The plant which produces the " Manila henap " of 
commerce. Our plant looks well, though stunted in 
size, and gives offsets, but all yet planted out have 
died ; but in pots, with the shelter of the fernery, it 
grows slowly. 
Pinus sinensis. China. Chinese pine. 
A fine tree reaching 30 to 40 feet high, which is 
being planted extensively in some places; it is said to 
prefer a tandy soil, is a good tree for avenues, &c, 
and the wood is valuable. P. Massoniana is said to 
be a synonym, but our plants look as if they belonged 
to different species; the one we have as P. sinensis 
is however certainly correctly named. 
Piper nigrum. E, Indies. Pepper plant. 
,, betel „ "Betel leaf." 
The last-named two plants are a'ive, but Dot flourish- 
ing. I fear that the soil of the Gardens is not suitable 
for them. 
Pongamia glabra. E. Indies. Tree. 
A leguminous tree, from whose seeds an oil called 
" Poonga oil " is extracted. It has been recommended 
as an avenue tree, and seems likely to succeed well 
hero. It was planted out in 1886. 
Swietonia mahagoni. W. Indies. " Mahogany." 
I am glad to lie able to say that these plants are 
doing fairly w> 11 ; they were planted at the end 
of 1886, and 1 he largest one is now over six feet high. 
The plant which was known as the " Mahogany " 
when I took charge of the Gardens in 1882, flowered, 
:iih1 turned out to be a species of Spondias, of no 
special value. 
CMorocodori Whitei "Umondi." 
The young plants which we had on hand when 
my last Annual B,eport was written, wi re all given 
to Mr. Parsons, of Wentworth, who is giving them 
a trial. The plant apparently grows fairly well even 
in the sandy and poor soil of the Berea, though no 
doubt it would thrive better in moister and richer 
ground. Our plant has flowered, but, I fear, will 
not mature seed. I am informed that there will 
most likely be a large demand for the roots if they 
can be produced in quantity. Small samples are of 
no use whatever, especially if the continued supply 
is uncertain. 
Lime Juice, — The bottles of Lime Juice forwarded 
to England, as stated in my Report for 1887, reached 
home safely, and the following report on the article 
was received : — 
"We have examined the four samples of Lime Jnice 
sent us by you. They are uniform as to test and 
general appearance. This juice has evidently been 
filtered, and is very clean, and free from all deposit. 
We think the lime Ju ; ce Cordial manufacturers, 
amongst whom Messrs. W. Rose & Co. are one of the 
largest, should give a good price for a parcel similar 
to these samples, and we should recommend your 
submitting them in one or two quarters. For citric 
acid mannfaeturing the value to us would be only 
about one-half of what we expect you would get 
from the above direction. Should you at any time 
recommend vour correspowdents to concentrate juice 
for citric acid manufacturing, please advise them that 
64 ounces of citric acid to the Imperial gallon is the 
most suitable strength. When concentrated juice is of 
a much higher strength, the cost'of working is greater." 
The firm to whom I sent the samples, and who 
obtained the above report, say : — " Tou will see that 
it is reported upon as being a very high class product ; 
and we should he glad if you could get anyone, to 
prepare it in this form, and we would take charge 
of the shipments, and we are in touch with most of 
the purchasers of this product." They also say : — 
" The Lime Juice is so good, it is ready for domestic 
use; so a friend reported on 'change who had tested 
your samples." 
Oomphocarpus sp. "Itshongwe." — In my last report 
I stated that roots of a species of Gomphocarpus had 
been purchased for and forwarded to Messrs. Christy 
& Co. It is quite probable that under the name 
"Itshongwe,' 1 the natives include a Xysmdlohium. as 
well as one or more species of Oomphocarpus. The 
alkaloid from the roots of these plants was first 
extracted by the Jate Mr. Jocelyn Cooke, of Estcourt, 
who strongly recommended it as a remedy for fever. 
On examination in England the alkaloid was reported 
to be probaWy new, but not of the quinine type, 
and larger quantities were required for experiment, 
■which I obtained as stated above ; and in a recent 
letter they say : — 
" This is now being thoroughly gone into in France 
by an eminent chemist and physiologist. We hope 
to publish some illustrated matter upon this same 
subject very shortlv; but so far as we can find out, 
the properties of the active principles of this root do 
not appear to be of very great interest or novelty 
in medicine." 
Colpoon compressum, "Bergbas." — Constant enquiries 
are being made about the leaves of this plant, which 
are said to compare favourably with " Sumach," but 
I have not heard that any further attempts are 
being male either to collect the leaves, or to cultivate 
the plant. It is a native of the upper districts, and 
is, I believe, very common in some parts of Cape 
Colony, Free State, and Transvaal. I have collected 
specimens of it in Alfred County, and also on Noodsberg. 
Manihot Qlaziovii " Ceara scrap."— The plants of 
this tree, which were reared from cuttings, are now 
forming a thick bush, but I fear will not grow into 
good trees. It is in my opinion a mistake to propagate 
the tree by cuttings, seed alone should be used; and 
I am informed by Mr. A. Wilkinson, to whom young 
plants were supplied, which are now bearing seed, 
that if the outer shells of the seeds be cracked wilh a 
small hammer before planting, they will germinate as 
quickly as though the edges of the seed were filed 
in the usual manner, which is rather a tedious process, 
and without some precaution of this kind the 
seeds may lay 12 months or more in the ground 
before germination takes place. Our plants now 
