Dkcem ber i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
411 
to those dependent upon me would have prevented my 
taking up a thing which I thought would be accom- 
panied by a loss, but 1 weighed the possibility of a lo.ss. 
I concluded that the Ceylon Government, the public, 
bodies, and private enterprize would see me through, 
hut what is the position ? Government graciously lent 
me some exhibits which cost mo a large sum to pack, 
insure, and transport. The Chamber of Commerce 
thanked me, the Agricultural Association did not 
answer my letter, the P. A lent mo their cases &c, 
which also cost me a large sum to purchase glass for, 
pack and move, and were itnot for the liberality of some 
of my friends iu Ceylon, and some who are not known 
to mo (a liberality for which I am truly grateful ), I 
should not have received au atom of assistance. 
Of course, those who are in the same lino of bnsirh sa 
as I am are not unnaturally jealous, and may think I 
am building up a connection to their detriment, but it 
il not so. My connection derived from South Kensington 
was not worth a ten-pound note to me, and any dealer 
in Ceylon ea can, if he likes, derive just as much 
benefit from the way it has been pushed at Liverpool 
as 1 do, and when tho Exhibition closes next week, 
I shall fool that I have put tens of thousands in the 
pockets of Ceylon tea growers (while not one estate 
in six has contributed a tarthing to help me); thousands 
in the Ceylon treasury, while I have lost six mouths 
of my time, been put to a heavy personal expenditure, 
and apart from this, lost a considerable sum in con- 
nection with the Ceylon Court here. Government 
should do something towards these things. The domi- 
nion of Canada and Ceylou are the only two depend- 
encies which will derive any benefit from the Liver- 
pool Exhibition, but the Dominion has spent a good 
deal and has a well paid official in charge, while the 
cost of Ceylon has all fallen upou an individual. AVe 
have been able to do a good deal for coffee here and 
proportionately more for Ceylon cocoa than for tea, so 
if you hear of anyone whose barns and bank accounts 
are swollen with heavy crops and good prices you can 
tell them a small conscientious contribution will be 
thankfully received. I saw D. Roid for five minutes 
yesterday just as I was leaving town for Liverpool 
;iud we nn et in Glasgow on Monday. If we have a 
erodit for£l,U00 we can put Ceylou forward thoroughly, 
and the mouoy will come back forty-fold, but Govern- 
ment should do something and at all events the official 
status of Ceylon Commissioner should be conferred on 
someone. — Yours truly, J. L. Shasd. 
Tub Market fob Bark and Qcininb. — We 
print above a very valuable letter from Mr. E. T. 
Delniege, in which the important information is 
liven that, in five years, consumption in the 
United States has increased 70 per cent. Mr. 
Delniege, like overyone else, recognizes tho fact 
that tho future of the bark market depends on 
Coylon, and he urges the cessation of shipments, 
advico which large numbors of planters are now 
following because shipments do not pay. A private 
lettor which accompanied the one for publication 
is so little o( a private nature that wc do not 
hesitate to quote it here : — 
" I hope my letter on cinchona will bo of some 
service to my fellow workers in the article. I have 
Mad it to aomo influential mon in Mincing Lane, 
who wiched very nmch to havo copy of the figures. 
1 declined to give it till tho mail had loft, so 
that yon should havo first d. tails for the East. 
1 havo tried to got correct details of tho quantity 
of Iho bark iu stock here 1 while some are willing 
to give full particulars, others decline to givo any . 
1 think tho article has now touched bottom, and 
if you could ui>o your powerful pun to iuducu 
planters and others to keep hack supplies, wo 
must ero long hoc an upward movement 111 
the price. I're-.nt pnct do n t pnv the 
chnrgrs, so what is the ate of shipping ' 
and thus incur a certain loss. I know a gool 
many nun have been obliged to ship to raise 
funds for planting toa ; but tho«« who now can 
hold will find cinchona in a year or two will pay 
them better. Whittall, Arbuthnots and ourselves 
decliuo to sell at anything like present prices. 
" You have, no doubt, seen tho sales on 6th October 
of 53,000 oz. Italian manufactured 1883 and 1881 
quinino at Is 4d to Is lid, and on 20th October of 
10,000 oz. Gorman 1880 manufactured at Is 1 I per oz. 
These sales took placo from geemul hands, and 
holders had to take what they could get, being 
pressed for money. When the market is cleared of 
these speculators, the manufacturers will be able to 
get better prices, which will give a healthier tone 
to the bark auctions. You will see tha enormous 
increase in consumption of quinine in America, — 70 
per cent in five years, and this will go on increas- 
ing a3 the country gets opened up. 
" Is it impossible to get reliable figures as to 
prospective supplies of park from Ceylon? This 
19 the point on which the whole question rests." 
We only wish wo could obtain reliable figures a.-; 
to Ceylon probable shipments ; but we feel con- 
fident there will now be a material decrea 
Adiantum Fxuousoni. — The following information 
concerning the origin and character uf this re- 
markable Fern (see fig, % p. 1(>9) is extracted Irom 
the late Mr. Ferguson's corresponden e with Mr. 
Dyer. In April I880. Mr Ferguson wrote : - " The 
following facts may interest Mr. Baker, Mr. Moore, 
and yourself. On my return from Puttalam, about 
85 miles north of Colombo, in November, 1881, 
I stopped a night at Negombo, about 21 miles 
north of this, and visited F. J. de Livera, Esq., 
District Judge. I found this Fern (A. Fergusoni) 
for the first time in a small pot between plants 
of A. tenerum and A. Farleyenee. I remarked 
that I thought it was A. Farleyense, which had 
taken a great bound and gone back to be a fruit- 
ful form. Mrs. de Livera got the plant from a 
family close by, who professed to have obtained 
it at a salo of plants at Colombo. With me it is a 
tall Fern about 2 feet in height and 1 feet in 
expansion. It has seeded freely here, and has come 
up in the crevices of the walls round my house. 
It has no barren fronds at all, and the seedlings 
phow no difference from the parent. It is surely too 
robust a plant to be squeezed into any form of 
A. Capillus-veneris, and the nearest to il that I 
can suggest is A. concinnum. I feel very grateful 
to Mr. Moore for the ho .our he has done me in 
naming this rare Fern after me." In Miy of 
the same year we receive 1 at Kew living p'anls 
of this Adiantum, and there is now a tine ex- 
ample 01 it in our collection, quite as tine as 
that described by Mr. Ferguson. Its spores vegetate 
in all sorts of plaees, and we have already 
I distributed a considerable number of plants thus 
j raised among nurserymen and others. A frond 
: measured by me today is :10 inches high, the 
lowest branch being 18 inches from the top, and 
I tho width of the frond at the base 12 inches. It 
I is one of the handsomest of Adianturas, and is 
■ certain to become a popular garden Fern. With 
{ regard to its position as a species, it appears to 
me that it must tako rank with the numerous 
' and exceedingly varied forms of A. Capillus-veneria. 
Whothcr it is a bport from the latter, or a hybrid 
between il and one of the forms of A. tenerum, 
cannot b^ determined; but certainly il is not more 
! extreme in the circle of A. Capillus-veneris than 
such as, for instance, the variety known as 
daphnitos. I am responsible for the statement in 
the note that acuonipimied the figure if A. 
Fergusoni, to the effect that Mr. Haker had d oided 
it to be a form of A. Capillus-veneris ; this ia not 
exactly correct, Mr. Baker believing that Mr. 
Moore's viow was the true one, namely, that A. 
1 Fergusoni is related to A. Capillus-veneris, but 
I whether a hybrid or a tport is not certain.— W.Wai.c--. 
Kew. — Cardentrt QhronicU, Oct. -Vud. 
