490 
the old Crook neck Squash when ripe, the exact coun- 
terpart of which he had seen on a tree in a distant part 
of the grounds. The distant tree origianlly came from 
Japan, and has not been bearing more than three years. 
I know such Oranges were never seen there on the 
tree on which he saw it, till this one strange tree began 
to bloom and bear fruit. Now tracks of this ribbed and 
warty fellow are again and again seen on the other 
trees. 
In March last, I cut a cluster of five Oranges from the 
tree sent me by Wm. Saunders, Superintendent of the 
Grounds of the Agricultural Department at Washing- 
ton, labelled Bahia. The cluster looked precisely like 
similar clusters growing on an adjoining St. Michael 
tree. Cutting them all, I could see no difference 
in seed or flavour from the St. Michaels ; the same 
sharp acid, the thicker, rougher, ' and tougher rind 
than that of the Navels — not a thing to remind one that 
the sap of a Navel tree nourished those five St. Mi- 
chael Oranges. 
Some years since, I procured from A. W. Rountree, 
of New Orleans, the Double Imperial Orange. 1 budded 
a number of trees from the tree he sent. They 
bloomed fully for the first time last February and 
March. The past summer and autumn I found again 
g nd again Oranges on adjoining trees so exactly like the 
eal Double Imperial, that the novice would say they 
were the same. This Orange (the Double Imperial) has 
an exterior, as E. H. Hart says, sm generis; and quite 
distinct from most Oranges. It has as much pollen 
(yellow, too) as any Orange bloom I ever examined. 
It is one of the coming Oranges for Florida. 
Meanwhile, let me say, a race of Oranges which can 
completely metamorphose whatever other variety its 
pollen touches must be most prepotent indeed. Out 
of the two strains, the Navel aud the Imperial Blood, 
will come the future Orange, which the intelligent 
lovers of the queen of fruits will say are the best. Their 
price will depend on the conscience of the seller. Note 
that Pelermo Imperial Bloods on March 1, sold in 
Boston at 4 35 dols. a box, when average Palermos 
sold at T50 dols , and less. Lyman Phelps. 
(The phenomenon of the direct influence of foreign 
pollen upon the fruit of various plants has long in- 
terested naturalists. It is a matter of much practical 
importance, too, to horticulturists, if certaiu fruits, 
especially those belonging to the Squash and Melon 
family, change aud deteriorate, as some assert, by 
the influence of the pollen from other plants of the 
same family acting upon the ovaries from which 
these fruits develop. Persons interested in the sub- 
ject will find a summary of what is known about it 
in a paper by M. Maximowicz, published in the 
Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, new ser. 
iii., p. 161. See also Darwin's Animals and Plants 
under Domestication (Englished.), i., 39; Asa Gray, 
in American Journal of Sciences and Arts, 2 ser. 
xxiv., 442, and Darlington's M Gestrica, 2 ed., p. 555. 
— Ed. From Garden and Forest.) 
» 
Tea in Uva.— Of my old district I shall not say very 
much, for I had not time to see much more than my 
own property. I think proprietors of Haputale estates 
may look forward to having some of the best and most 
profitable tea in the Central Province. If tea is 
addicted to deep rich soil and a forcing climate, it will 
find a oongenial home on the Haputale ranges. It is 
growing best at the higher elevations, but I am 
sanguine that it will also do well at 2,000 feet, although 
the difficulty of establishing it so low down is greater.] 
Much will depend down there, I suspect, on libera 
expenditure in planting operations. As to coffee, it 
may interest absent proprietors to hear that, on the 
whole, I found my good coffee looking far better than 
when I left Ceylon, two-and-a-half years ago. I found 
some of my upper fields looking as well as ever they 
did. Many fields of coffee which, when I left, were 
blasted by green bugs, are now clean, vigorous and 
full of orop.— Cor., Local " Times." 
The Finest Coconut Plantation in the island 
of its size is described to us by a good and im- 
partial authority, as probably that recently oreated 
in the Mirigama district by Mr. W. H. Wright. 
It now covers 250 acres planted, from this year'g 
clearing up to 3 years old and in 3 or 4 years 
more, it is expected the first fields will be coming 
into bearing. Meantime the plantation is a perfeofc 
picture of careful cultivation while the mansion, 
garden and grounds afford a capital illustration 
of how a country gentleman with taste and 
means, and we may say special experience and 
industry, can make life pleasant and profitable for 
himself and his family in the jungle. 
Johoee Notes.— On all sides I hear good accounts 
of the coffee crop, Yesterday a planter described 
his bushes to me as " red with ripe berries." 
This is oapital 1— but only, oh only, don't 1 We 
hear of a forward move on the part of the pro- 
posed Straits Planters' Association. Sinoe theiv 
circular — (how many months ago?) — we've heard 
nothing ; and, deny it who can, our labour is not 
as satisfactory as your extract from the L. and 
0 Express, in your issue of 7th inst, would make 
it out to be. A little less of the couleur de rose, 
Mr. Editor, please I Undoubtedly, the S. P. A. is 
the body of all others to tackle this question. — 
Cor. Singapore Free Press, Deo, 11th. 
The Size and Weight, quite Exceptional 
of the Famous Elephant " Jumbo," are thus given 
in a notice of Barnum's show: — 
The stuffed figure and the skeleton of Jumbo, who, 
it will be remembered, was killed by a railway train 
soon after his arrival in America, are the first objects 
that catch the eye of the visitor to Olympia. They 
are very typical of Amerioan enterprise. Many persons, 
perhaps, would have had the idea of preserving the 
bones of the famous elephant, but it needed a Barnum 
to perceive that, to borrow the language of the profes- 
sion, there was money also in his hide. In Mr. Barnum's 
hands Jumbo dead has in fact become an even more 
profitable speculation than Jumbo alive. It is stated 
that his skin when removed weighed over three-quarters 
of a ton and varied from half an inch to an inch and a 
half in thickness. Standing in a life-like attitude, the 
stuffed Jumbo presents a very imposing spectacle. The 
skeleton is no less so When alive Jumbo stood 12ft. 
high (ta the shoulder), measured 18ft. round the middle 
andl4th. in length, and weighed seven tons. His skele. 
ton is dclared to be the largest of any terrestrial mammal 
of the present geological era. 
Jamaica, Nov. 18th. — Writing to renew his sub- 
scription for the Tropical Agriculturist for the 
present year, Mr. W. W. Wynne of Brokenhurst, 
Mandeville, Jamaica, says : — 
In this part of our island we have had fine "seasons," 
and my crop for 1889-90 is an average one, and if the 
present nice pouring rains continue there is every 
prospect of a bumper crop for 1890-91, i. e. of course 
" The Planter's Year'' (next), but one never knows what 
the crop will be till It is in the pulper loft. Last July 
the heavy rains and high winds cost me a good fifteen 
times of 850! h-,: it out off all the young berries 
towards the ends of the primaries. I have planted 
within the last two years and-a-half 280 acres, on 
the system that prevails in these parts, viz. by giving 
out the virgin land to Negroes for three years rent 
free, my undertaking to cut down tho trees, clean up 
and get ready for lining and pegging. After this is 
done by me, they plant their provisions, yams, plan- 
tains and bananas, between the rows. I plant my 
suckers when it suits me, generally before the Ootober 
rains, so that, as I give out the land early in the spring, 
the bananas etc. afford a good shade for them. I 
hear from Mr. Sabonadiere that in his distriot tbo 
rains have been too heavy and the crops are very small 
Thanking you for the vast fuud of valuable inform- 
ation your excellent paper affords. — Believe me, &c, 
ours very truly, Walter W. Wynne. 
