9zS 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Mav i, 1882. 
NEW PRODUCTS: CANDLE TREE (PARMEN- 
TIERA CERIPHRA) IN TRINIDAD. 
From Mr. Prestoe's long and interesting Report on 
the Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, we quote as follows in 
reference to a tree which ha? been already introduced into 
Ceylon, although not much is known of its products :— 
It is now some seventeen years ago that Mr. Bull 
of Chelsea introduced this rather peculiar tree to the 
attention of cultivators, having obtained it from 
Panama. It received its name from the resemblance 
of its fruits — borne in masses from the stem and 
larger branches — to hanging candles. So far, I do 
not find that any use has ever been made of this 
tree in cultivation, not' even that special one as 
fodder for horses and stock of all sorts, and for 
which it was originally recommended. The tree now 
well established in the Orchard and Nursery Grounds 
has the habit of an erect-growing and thinly-branched 
English plum-tife. Of moderate habit or rate of 
growth, it is eminently adapted for field cultivation 
where the ground might be too uneven or stony for 
annual cropping. It is also well suited for hill side 
positions. The highly satisfactory manner in which 
this tree has thriven and produced its highly nutritious 
fruits— together with the fact that all kinds of stock 
devour them greedily — induce me to give it special 
mention here as a fodder-plant specially adapted for 
tropical or sub-tropical countries where the annual 
or occasional severe drought occasions a scarcity of 
fodder for certain periods, such indeed as occurs 
and is a notable drawback to prosperity in some 
parts of India, tropical Australia, Natal, &c. In 
this latter colony it is stated on good authority, 
that the one great obstacle to breeding s'ock is the 
scarcity of fodder for a few weeks annually, and 
occasionally for longer periods. It appears to me that 
this tree is well adapted to meet this vital want as 
it exists in Natal. The one drawback with its 
cultivation in the rough and ready style of farming 
in the colonies, and the absence of fences is, that 
owing to the fondness of stock for the leaves and 
branches as well as the fruit, young trees would 
always be in danger of being injured or devoured 
if left unprotected. There appears, however, to 
be a set-off to this drawback in the character of the 
fruit. It is usually 18 inchei long, and one inch or 
more thick, and of so firm a texture as to admit 
of being tied in bundles, and in this form would be 
quite capable of bearing transport in waggon or by 
rail 3 or 4 days without injury, provided ordinary 
precaution be taken against immediate heating. Thus 
the fruits might be grown in one quarter out of 
reach of cattle, and be conveyed to another quarter 
for consumption. The tree is evidently not particular 
as to soil, but like most trees it thrives best in good 
soil. Yet it is heavily fruitful in very poor soil, 
such as that in •which it grows here. It may be 
said that it is never without some fruits, but a strong 
point in its character is that of fruiting most heavily 
just at the approach of and through the dry season. 
With these characters I regard the tr^e as being 
capable of supplying the tropical dry season with a 
source of fodder for stock, just as the temperate 
winter has its supply of fodder in mangles, and 
swedes, &c. As to yield according to what the trees 
bear — in the December and January crops — and which 
is less than half for the year — 25 to 30 tons weight 
of fruit to the acre may be regarded as the average for 
10-year-old trees. The deciduous character of the tree 
in dry weather, and its readiness in producing foliage 
and remaining green when the weather is not excessively 
dry, lead me to conclude that the natureof the plant is 
decidedly accommodating, i e. , it will thrive and be fruit- 
ful under much greater extremes of cliinato as to tem- 
7>erature — than it has to bear here, but still a minimum 
ahould not be below fi0° Fah.— Trinidad Chronicle. 
Sandwich Islands Coffee.— The coffee of the 
Sandwich Islands, known by the name of kona c r ffee, 
is of excellent quality and easily cultivated; it is sold 
af; the rate of 12 cents the J lb in the country. It 
ii consumed without mixture ; there is no need of an 
auxiliary, as with some kinds. Its export, which rose 
in 1878-9 to 180.000 kilograms, decreased in 1880.— 
Journal des Economistes. 
Tanks for the reception of liquid-manure from the 
stables or cow-houses and for house sewage are useful 
adjuncts; especially is this the case where the supply 
of ordinary farmyard manure is limited in quantity, and 
for use on fruit borders, where it is considered unad- 
visable to fork in much manure, because of the number 
of surface roots, and where continued surface-dressings 
may be raising the borders higher than is desirable. 
Heaps of loam or compost in stock may be thoroughly 
enriched by being frequently favoured with a supply 
when available. Wbere the subsoil is a retentive clay, 
tanks may be constructed at a trifling expense, as a 
4J-inch brick-wall, set in cement, will generally he found 
sufficient for the sides, provided they are well puddled 
around : but on light soils and stony ground two such 
walls may require to be built with a half-inch cavity 
between, which can be filled with cement. — Gardeners 1 
Chronicle. 
Coffee-leaf Disease. — Mr. Marshall Ward has made 
his third and concluding report on the Coffee-leaf dis- 
ease, which has caused so much mischief in Ceylon. 
The disease is caused solely by the Hemileia, a parasitic 
fungus originally described in these columns by Mr. 
Berkeley. The whole direct damage done by the fungus 
is loss of leaves, whence, of course, arise evils conse- 
quent on starvation and suffocation. The spores are 
carried by the wind, geiminate in moist weather, and 
run their life cycle in about three weeks, to begin again 
their course of destruction. External applications, owing 
to the countless number of spores and the impossibility 
of reaching them all, are useless, nor have the attempts 
made to combat the fungus while growing within the 
tissue of the leaf been of any service. Mr. Ward re- 
commends the collection and destruction of diseased 
leaves, not by burning, hut by burying them and cover- 
ing them with caustic lime, sheltering the plantation 
from spore-laden winds, and cultural proceedings so con- 
trived that there may be as little young foliage exposed 
during the time when the monsoons prevail, and the 
spores are most blown about. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Palms. — One of the prettiest novelties among these is the * 
new Caledonian Kentiopsis divaricata, which has pinnate 
leaves, the leaflets of which are broadish and alternate ; 
the leaves when first developed are of a rich brownish- 
red colour, and in this stage the plant is very effective. 
Another new pinnate Palm is the Pinanga patula from 
Sumatra, which has a dwarf, slender stem from 5 to 
6 feet high, the leaves 4 to 5 feet long, with broadish 
leaflets. In Synechanthus fihrosus, from Guatemala, we 
have another dwarf and graceful species, with a trunk 
4 feet high, and a crown of pinnate leaves, the linear- • 
lanceolate leaflets of which are from 1 — 1 J foot long ; 
the flowers of this Palm are succeeded by orange-red 
drapes. Ravenea Hildehrandtii, from Johanna Island, 
attains to 10 or 12 feet in height, and its pinnate 
leaves are made up of numerous narrow lanceolate 
leaflets. In Nunnezharia tenella we get what has been 
designated as perhaps the dwarfest known Palm, the 
entire plant, in a fruit-bearing condition, being only 9 
inches high ; its obovate-ohlong nervose leaves are bifid 
at the extremity, and the yellow flowers are produced 
in long drooping slender spikes, almost as long as the 
plant itself. The beautiful Pritchardia grandis, which 
has figured with such excellent effect in Mr. Bull's 
prize collections, has been named Licuala grandis by 
Mr. Wendland, — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
