782 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST [May i, 1888. 
only half the diameter of the globular extremity. 
The cultivation of cubebs appears to be very similar 
to that of the ordinary black pepper. Trees are re- 
quisite for shade and for supporting the vines. At 
the foot of these the young plants are first started. 
When fully grown the cubeb vine climbs to the height 
of 18-20 feet, and forms a large bush. In Java small 
plaotations are specially devoted to cubebs; but 
latterly they have been cultivated also on coffee estates 
by European planters. The fruits are gathered when 
full grown, but before they are quite ripe. They are 
then carefully dried with the stalk attached ; hence on 
this account they are sometimes called " tailed pepper." 
Oubebs have a warm aromatic and somewhat " cam- 
■phoraceous" taste. The smell is highly aromatic, 
a nd by no means disagreeable. Oubebs have stimulant 
and diuretic properties. The chief use of cubebs in 
European countries has been for various forms of 
syphilitic disease. Latterly they have been largely 
used in America in the preparation of asthm cigarettes. 
Aocording to the Chemist and Druggist the price of 
cubebs has always been subject to sudden and violent 
fluctuations. In 1865 the price averaged 77s, 6d. 
per cwt. ; from 1875 to 1880 cubebs could be bought 
at prices ranging from 25s. to 55s. per cwt. Since 1880 
the price has steadily gone up, and " good genuine 
cubebs " in 1886 realised 20?. to 22?. per cwt. 
In the Kew museums there are specimens of the 
fruits of Piper Cubeba from Nepaul and Madras, 
India Museum ; these are probably bought in Baeaars, 
and not grown locally. Commercial cubebs from Java 
and Sumatra are represented by samples contributed 
by Messrs. Burgoyne, Burbidges and Co. West Afri- 
can cubebs, the produce of Piper Clusii, are represent- 
ed by specimens from the Yoruba country by Mr. 
Barber ; from Sierra Leone by Dr. Clark ; from Bahia, 
brought from the West Coast of Africa by negroes, 
under the name of " Irrei," by Mr. J. Wetherell ; 
and from the Sierra Leone exhibits at the Colonial 
and Indian Exhibition, 1886, under the name of 
" Yaray," by the Commissioner. 
In addition to these there are samples of cubeb oil 
and cubebine, illustrating the products of Piper 
Cubeba ; and samples of false cubebs as usually used 
for purposes of adulteration, which are probably the 
fruits of Piper crassipes. 
Introduction of the Brazil Not to the East 
Indies and Australia. 
(Bartholletia excelsa, Humb.) 
The plant yielding the common Brazil nuts of com- 
merce is a lofty tree, locally known as " Castanea." 
native of the forests of Guiana, Venezuela, and Brazil. 
It grows regariously in large forests, and belongs to 
the tribe Lecythide.ee of the natural order Myrtacece. 
The " nuts," generally from 15 to 25 iu number, are 
contained in a spherical shell about the size of a' 
child's head, but of an extremely hard woody texture. 
Inside this the nuts are closely packed round a central 
axis, and hence the wedge-shaped or triangular form 
assumed when ripe. The walls of the shell are about 
half an inch in thickness, and they are so firm and 
compact in texture that it is necessary to break them 
with an axe before the triangular wrinkled nuts can be 
extracted. This latter work is done by Indians, in the 
forests, and the nuts are then brought down the rivers 
in canoes to the port of shipment. 
Brazil nuts form an important article of commerce, 
and about 70,000 bushels are annually imported into 
this country and used chiefly for dessert purposes. 
The ordinary kinds come from Par;! and are sometimes 
called Vnr-d, nuts. The best nuts, styled " bold Manaos 
Brazils," which command the highest prices, come from 
Mau.'tos, an inland town on the Rio Negro, and in the 
province of that name. 
The nuts ripen and fall from the trees in February 
uud March, and fresh nuts arrive in Europe in May 
and June. 
While the nuts are largely exported they are also 
extensively used in Brazil, but chiefly as food by the 
Indians ; the Tapejos, for example, subsist largely upon 
them. The oil contained in the kernels is used locally, 
•nd to a small extent in commerce. 
The Brazil-nut tree is a native only of South America' 
and it is scarcely known under cultivation outside the 
tropics of the New World. It was introduced to 
Jamaica as lately as May 1881, when 300 fruits, con- 
taining about '6,000 seeds, were obtained by the Bo- 
tanical Department of that colony direct from Pari. 
Seeds were first of all distributed amongst cultivators 
and afterwards growing plants. The germination of 
the seeds, covered as they are with a dense woody 
testa, is a subject which requires some attention. If 
the seeds are sown in the natural state and without any 
preliminary preparation, the period cf germination 
may extend from a few months to nearly two years. 
In the report of the Director of Public Gardens and 
Plantations, Jamaica, for the year 1883, it is stated, 
" Before being planted, it is advisable to take the nuts 
out of the pericarps or fruit cases and soak them in 
water for about a fortnight, otherwise they take several 
months or even a year or two in germinating. Some 
nuts planted in May 1881, witheut soaking, only ap- 
peared above ground in February 1883." 
At Kew the results have been very much the same 
The assistant curator, in a memorandum on the subject, 
states that "if the seeds of Brazil-nuts are sown with 
shells intact, they remain in the soil a long time with* 
out germinating. They do not, however, perish, and 
we have succeeded in getting plants from seeds that 
have been sown over two years. 
"By removing the shells from the seeds before sow- 
ing they will germinate in a very short time. At Kew, 
we had the young plants through the soil ten days 
after date of sowing. The shells, in this case, had 
been cracked and carefully removed from the seeds." 
The introduction of the Brazil-nut tree into our 
Eastern and Australian Colonies was in every way so 
so desirable an object that this establishment, which 
has in many ways and for a long period, served as a 
"half-way house " between the two tropics, was very 
happy to take part in it. An application having been 
received from the Botanic Garden at Brisbane, Queens- 
land, for seeds or plants of Berth-oil etia excelsa, about 
J cwt. of fresh seed was obtained in June 1885, and 
forwarded to the Colony. The first report received 
on this consignment was not encouraging. The superin- 
tendent, in a latter dated 22nd February 1886, states : — 
"I very much regret to say that the Bertholletia 
seed, respecting which you took so much trouble, 
has not been a success. Besides sowing large quan- 
tities myself without delay, I distributed it over a 
wide range of Nothern Queensland, but none of the 
seeds germinated." It was believed here at the time 
that some of the seeds would still germinate if they 
were kept in a suitable situation; but in order to 
ensure the introduction of the tree to Queensland, 
a second lot of seeds were forwarded in July of 
the present year. At the same time a lot was for- 
warded to the Botanic Gardens at Singapore. In 
acknowledging the receipt of the second lot of seeds, 
Mr. Cowan in oharge of the Botanic Gardens at 
Brisbane, writes as follows : — " The previous consign- 
ment was submitted to such treatment as you advised, 
with the result that there are now available for distri- 
bution about 200 plants ©f this valuable tree. This 
second importation will enable a thorough trial to 
be made in all likely parts of the Colony." 
Mr. Cantley, in reporting the arrival of the seeds at 
Singapore, mentions that those which were packed at 
Kew in moist peat had begun to germinate on the 
voyage. The other sent dry, had not germinated, 
but were placed under treatment at once. Mr. Cantley 
adds, " I have sent a few of the seeds to the native 
states, where they are very anxious to get anything 
of this kind." 
The further introduction of the Brazil nut to Eastern 
Colonies is a matter which does not appear to require 
arrangements of an exceptional character. Fresh see A 
may be obtained in London from reliable merchant s 
in June and July of each year, and these could b e 
sent packed in cocoa-nut fibre or peat in an ordinar y 
box as merchandise. On arrival, the seeds should b e 
well soaked or the outer shell might be very carefully 
cracked and removed or oracked only, and the kernels 
sown in ordinary nursery beds. It is necessary to add 
