THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June r, 1895. 
Jamaica Handbook, " he was instrumental in 
obtaining the removal of the quarantine res- 
trictions against Jamaica, which had been in 
existence for nearly flirty years." He was ap- 
pointed Chairman of the Jamaica Commission 
for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition held 
at Kensington in 188(5. In the same year he was 
appointed hy the Imperial Government, on 
the retirement of Sir Joseph Hooker, Assistant 
Director of the Koyal Gardens at Kew, a position 
which he still holds, with great credit to himsell 
and considerable advantage both t<> the Royal 
Gardens and to the Colonics. Before leaving the 
West Indies, his services were widely recognised. 
He had served under two of the ablest governors 
that Jamaica ever had — the late Sir Anthony 
Musgrave and Sir Henry W. Norman, now Go- 
vernor of Queensland — and he w as most strenuous 
in encouraging fruit cultivation and other minor 
industries that have already done so much for 
Jamaica, and will eventually benefit all the islands 
in the West Indies. It is interesting to note his 
family connection with this part pf the world, 
dated as far back as 1741. an ancestor, Admiral 
Mathew, while in command of the West India 
Station, having married Miss Burgess, an Antigua 
heiress. In 1890-91 Dr. Morris revisited tin Weal 
Indies at the request of the local Governments 
to report upon and organise the Botanic Stations 
in the Windward and Leeward Islands. He was 
present at the opening of blie Jamaica Exhibition 
by His Royal Highness, the Duke of York-, and 
delivered tlie first lecture in the Conference Hall. 
On his return to London he presented a report 
affording, according to Mr. Thiselton Dyer, "the 
most complete account of the economical circum- 
stances of theWest Indies that had been published in 
recent years." Amongst special matters, he has taken, 
from the first, a practical interest in the investiga- 
tion of fibre-yielding plants — a subject of first- 
rate importance to manufacturers at home, and 
also to our planting Colonies. His qualification 
in this field of work was recognised by his being 
appointed by the India Office to represent it at 
the Ramie 'Conferences held in Paris in 1S8S 
and 1889. Further, he has been selected this 
year to deliver a course of Cantor lectures on 
'' Commercial Fibres" before the Society of Arts, 
beoinning on March 18th next. In 1893 Dr. 
Morris received the distinction of c. m.c, " for 
scientific services rendered to Her Majesty's 
possessions." In the following year he 
received the degree of Doctor of Science from his 
alma mater, the University of Dublin. He has 
published numerous memoirs and papers on pure 
and applied botany, He is a Fellow of the 
Linnean Society, of the Royal Colonial Institute, 
and Fellow and Late Treasurer of the Horticul- 
tural Society. Locally he has taken a deep in- 
terest in scientific societies, and last year he was 
elected President of the Richmond Athenaeum, in 
succession to Sir Richard Temple, Bart., M.P. 
Dr. Morris married, in 1879, Miss Margaret 
Aitken, youngest daughter of Captain Aitken, 
j. p., F.G.S-, President ot the Manchester Geo- 
logical Society. A man of great energy of 
character and peculiar talent for practical re- 
search in the branches of science to which he 
lias devoted his life, Dr. Morris has also the 
great privilege of being personally popular 
wherever he is known, and it goes without say- 
ing that there is a bright and prosperous career 
before him. Although still a comparatively young- 
man he has already accomplished a large amount 
of valuable work, and it is decidedly an advantage 
to the Colonies that he is still actively engaged 
in the duties of a most useful life. — E, Mail. 1 
PROTEST AGAINST COLOURED COFFEES. 
Coffee merchants in this market we preparing a 
protest to the board of managers of the Coffee Ex- 
change against the delivery of artificially colored 
coffees on Exchange contracts. 
This is not a new matter, it having been taken up 
some time ago by Baltimore merchants who success- 
fully combated the importers to deliver under Ex- 
change rules such coffees. While it is admitted that 
coffees are artificially colored in our domestic markets, 
the merchants say they can ascertain why and how 
coffees were colored at home, but nobody lias any 
knowledge of the coloring matter used at Rio or other 
export markets. 
Mr. Frederick T. Sherman, who is agitating the 
subjec t in this market, said yesterday : " Parties in 
New York who trade in options on the Exchange 
have suffered through the misrepresentation of 
certain coffees, and have decided to enter a protest 
against their delivery on Exchange contracts. Some 
merchants have sold coffees to arrive, but when the 
coffees were delivered many of them were apparently 
artificially colored. The receivers declined to accept 
the invoices on the ground that they wore not 
deliverable as the Coffee Exchange standards are not 
colored. The parties who tendered the coffees insisted 
upon their right to deliver, as such coffees were 
delivered before. 
" Some of the parties to whom the goods were 
tendered, after much hesitation, did accept them ; 
but others absolutely refused any part of the invoices, 
and the goods were sold for the account of the pur- 
chaser and the matter is now a proper one for 
judicial action. 
" To guard against any such trouble in the 
future a number of the trade have signed a petition 
urging the board of managers of the Exchange to 
hereafter prohibit the delivery of all artificially 
colored coffees on Exchange contracts. 
" It cannot be denied that coffees are colored in 
this market. The objection made by receivers is that 
the trade cannot tell what is used as coloring matter 
in Rio ; neither are they willing to receive such 
colored goods on contracts calling for presumably 
natural coffees. 
" It also is contended by the objectors to this 
practice that the addition of coloring matter is often 
used for the purpose of hiding defects, and frequently 
tends to make coffees appear better than they really 
are." 
There is an opinion in coffee circles that the matter 
has gone beyond the jurisdiction of the board of 
managers of the Exchange and may possibly be 
brought into the courts ; but merchants hope to avoid 
the publicity of the latter course. — X. Y. Journal of 
Commerce. 
VARIOUS PLANTING NOT^S. 
Royal Gardens, Ki:w. — Bulletin of Miscellaneous 
Information. March, Contents. — Botanical Garden 8 
in South Africa ; Decades Kewenses, xiv ; Botanical 
Survey of India ; Tea Cultivation in the Caucasus i 
Vaccinium Arctostaphylos as a Tea Substitute ; Diag- 
noses Africanse, iv ; Miscellaneous Notes. — Palace 
Meadow. — Berlin Notizblatt. — Botanical Magazine,— 
Ruwenzori Expedition. — Malayan Plants. — Flora of 
Florida: — Castleton Gardens, Jamaica, — West African 
Mahogany. 
Bed Spider. — Up North Tea Planters are already 
talking of Bed Spider, and one of them sends the 
Statesman the following, as a very useful remedy : — 
Mix in buckets a thin gruel composed of sifted wood 
ash, the cheapest and least odorous oil procurable, 
and dilute carbolic acid — the strength of the last to 
be determined by experiment — and spray among the 
leaves. If it does not entirely clear the infested 
plants, it is said that this solution will at least kill 
myriads of the abominable pests. It is recommended 
that planters should refrain from plucking until all 
traces of the odour of the wash has disappeared ; 
but it is better even to lose one flush than to leave 
the plant at the mercy of the spider. — Madras Times, 
