THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February i, 1890. 
580 
it to emerge as a perfect beetle. This beetle, uulike 
the Rhinoceros beetle, flies freely by daylight. They 
are not very numerous here, and I have never known 
much damage to be done by them. On account of 
their habits, little can be done to decrease their num- 
ber, but for the same reason, they are not likely to 
increase to any great extent. 
It is not easy to know when a tree is attacked by 
these insects, as it shows no very clear sign of their 
ravages until the leaf spike falls, when the tree in- 
variably dies. If the heads of the trees are frequently 
inspected by skilful beetle-searchers, many trees may 
be saved by cutting out the grubs, their presence being 
known by the seai -her either finding a cocoon in the 
tree, or, more generally, by noticing slight wounds on 
the smooth ski., (if I may call it so) of the leaf spike, 
which are unintentionally made by the grub in eating 
the soft pithy mass through which it pushes its way. 
Several grubs and beetles are sometimes cut out of 
one tree. 
I may mention that, some years ago, the coconut 
plantation belonging to this estate was being rapidly 
destroyed by the ravages of the Ehiuoceros beetle. 
Finding that increasing the number of beetle-searchers 
had no appreciable effect, I commenced searching for 
the grubs, and, at the beginning, with one coolie, used 
to destroy from 300 to 1,000 in a day. By destroying 
them and preventing them from breeding in the paddy 
straw, they decreased rapidly in number, the planta- 
tion became healthy again, and I found one beetle- 
searcher sufficient to keep the trees free of them. In 
my case I found it necessary only to search the refuse 
cheaps to the eastward of the plantation, that being 
the general direction of the night breeze. — Strain Times. 
KEW BULLETIN AND TEOPIOAL 
AGBIULTUEE. 
We have more than onee called attention in for- 
mer years to a very useful and very interesting 
collection of oooasional notes and memoirs, on 
matters conneoted chiefly with economical botany, 
periodically published by the authorities of the 
Royal Gardens at Kew, under the title of the Bulle- 
tin of Miscellaneous Information." The Bulletin 
is issued monthly, in separate numbers, and at 
the close of the year the several numbers are collec- 
ted together and published in a single volume, at 
moderate cost, by Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 
Among the voluminous publications which are 
issued annually from that Office, it would be 
difficult to find many which rival this unpretend- 
ing Bulletin in varied interest and genuine economical 
importance. The Boyal Gardens at Kew are, as it 
were, an Intelligence Department for Economic 
Botany and a central Botanical Exohange for the 
whole British Empire. A paper in the number of 
the Bulletin for May, 1889, gives a list of Botanical 
Departments and Establishments at home, in India, 
and in the Colonies, in correspondence with Kew, 
It ocoupies five pages, and its range extends from 
Darjeeling to Cape Town, from Ottawa to Sydney, 
from Jamaica to Fiji. Another paper, of some forty 
pages, in the July number, consists of a " Guide 
to the Botanical Literature of the British Empire." 
" The primary object of this compilation," says an 
introductory note, " is to supply useful information 
on the literature of the systematic, economic, and 
geographical botany of the Possessions, Dependen- 
cies, and Protectorates of the British Empire, Kew 
is often called upon to answer questions, on the 
shortest notice, concerning the vegetation of some 
remote part of the world, and the best books to 
consult on the subject, Suoh questions are not 
always easily answered, and they frequently entail 
a considerable expenditure of time ; hence the idea 
of preparing a oonoise guide." Here we obtain a 
glimpse of the important and comprehensive func- 
tions discharged by Kew in the commerce and 
economy of the Empire. England is the common 
market of the world, and the dominions of the 
Queen contain almost every climate to be found 
on the surface of the globe. Broadly speaking, it 
is hardly an exaggeration to say that the bulk of 
our trade, consists in the export of minerals and 
mineral products, and the import of vegetable staples. 
Hence the vital importance of a systematic survey 
and co-ordination of the botanical resources of the 
Empire at large. As regards the more common 
and familiar products of the vegetable kingdom, 
it is true, no doubt, that our merchants know 
where to find them, and that self-intert st and competi- 
tion will infallibly direct them to the cheapest market. 
But new products are perpetually finJiug their way 
into the market as staples, and the enterprise and 
ingenuity of Englishmen are constantly trans- 
ferring old products from the parts of the world 
in which they are native to other parts where 
they can be cultivated to equal ad vantage. This 
process is largely aided by scientific inquiry and 
organized research, and Kew, with its affiliated 
establishments in all parts of the Empire, fur- 
nishes the machinery whereby scientific inquiry 
and organized research, are applied to this important 
department of the national economy. 
A mere glance at the table of contents of the 
Bulletin for 1889 will show how admirably Kew 
fulfils its purpose in this respect. The Bulletin 
must not, of course, be regarded as a summary or 
survey of all the work done at Kew for the study 
of scientific botany. It is merely a aeries of notes, 
on subjects which have been brought to the notice 
of the Director and his assistants in the course 
of the ordinary work of the establishment, and 
have been adjudged by them as of sufficient gene- 
ral interest to warrant the publication of information 
concerning them. Accordingly, in one number we 
have a brief account of the variou3 woods produced 
in Tasmania, with an estimate of their commercial 
value ; in another, a catalogue of ths fruits grown 
in Mysore, in continuation of similar information, 
published in previous numbers of the Bulletin, 
concerning other parts of the Empire. The in- 
terests of horticulture — no inconsiderable industry 
in the aggregate— are not neglected, for the Febru- 
ary number consists exclusively of a list of such 
hardy herbaceous annual and perennial plants as 
have matured seeds under cultivation at Kew in 
1888 — such seeds being available for exchange 
with colonial, Indian, and foreign Botanio Gardens, 
as well as with regular correspondents of Kew ; 
while the April number contains a similar list of 
new garden plants, described and published in 
1888. But, for the most part, the interest of the 
Bulletin is, as it should be, rather economical 
than horticultural. In the first number we find a 
very interesting account of the cooa plant, the 
source of the now well-known and popular local 
anassthetio known as cocaine. It will surprise 
many of our readers, perhaps, to learn that this 
plant has been noticed and described by botanists 
and travellers for more than 300 years. It has 
long been largely used by the inhabitants of Peru 
and Bolivia as the source of a stimulant to the 
nervous system, in much the same way and for 
the same purpose as the Chinese use opium and 
the East Indians chew the betel, and for this 
purpose some 40,000,000 of pounds of th6 
leaves are gathered annually, mainly from the 
plantations of Bolivia, the value of the crop being 
estimated at £2,000,000. Outside of South 
America the plant is used almost exclusively for 
the production of cocaine, an alkaloid whioh is 
extracted from the leaves. For this purpose its 
experimental cultivation has been undertaken in 
