572 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[March  r,  1893. 
and  utilise  the  moat  suitable  varities  for  our  local 
requirements. 
The  only  serious  fault  that  we,  as  amateurs, 
are  disposed  to  find  with  these  savants  is  th»ir 
nomenclature.  And  it  is  not  merely  the  outlandisb- 
uess  ot  the  names  they  choose  to  give  but  the 
ever-recurring  tendency  to  change  these  names, 
however  well  established,  often  for  no  better  reason 
than  palpable  petty  jealousy.  Take,  for  instance,  the 
JVellinytonia,  which  we  havo  just  mentioned,  a tree 
discovered  and  brought  to  England  by  an  Euelish- 
man,  very  appropriately  named  this  loftiest 
of  trees  after  one  of  the  noblest  of  men.  But 
by-and-by  the  Yankee  botanists  begnn  to  ex- 
press a desire  that  the  tree  should  be  called 
Washingtonia,  while  the  savants  shrugged  their 
shoulders  and  said,  “ We  do  net  love  the  name  ot 
Wellington.”  So  a compromise  has  been  made,  and 
a fiat  has  gone  forth  that  henceforth  the  mammoth 
tree  shall  be  known  by  the  name  of — Sequah  1 — We 
beg  its  pardon — Sequoia  is  the  spelling,  and  which  may 
mean  Tenfelsdrbckh  for  anything  we  kuow  ! Now 
imagine  the  result  of  this  caprice — every  botanical 
dictionary  printed  during  the  last  40  years  is  pro- 
nounced incorrect,  every  label  in  every  botanical 
gardeD  in  the  world  upon  which  “ Wellington!*  ” is 
printed  has  to  be  replaced,  and  every  nurseryman  is 
urged  to  “correct”  his  ca'alogne.  We  doubt,  however, 
if  the  overage  Briton  will  submit  to  this  dictation, 
and  more  than  suspect  that  “ Sequoia  ” will  be  left 
very  much  to  the  French,  German,  and  Dutch  sages. 
We  note  also  that  the  well-known  Abies  Ahertiana  is 
henceforth  to  be  known  as  Tsuga  Mertensiana , the 
Douglas  fir  to  be  transmogrified  into  the  sweet- 
eounding  Pseudotsuga,  while  dozens  of  other  changes 
add  to  the  inextricable  confusion.  Oue  would  ima- 
gine that  these  Continental  experts  delight  in  making 
tho  language  of  botany  and  horticulture  as  difficult, 
incongruous,  and  repellant  as  possible. 
Not  the  least  interesting  pages  of  the  work  under 
ffeVleW  are  the  tables  showing  the  heights  of  tho 
various  conifers  growing  in  the  United  Kingdom  from 
which  we  note  that  the  loftiest  Wellinytonia  in 
Bootland  is  at  Murthly  Castle  66J  feet.  (The  two 
Wellingtonias  planted  by  the  Qneen  and  the  Prince 
Consort  at  Haddo  House  36  years  ago,  are  each  50 
feet  in  height.) 
Araucaria  imbricata  Reached  height  of  55  feet  at 
Poltallocb, 
Argyllshire. 
Abies  Douglassii  ...  94  do  Dunkeld. 
Do  do  ...  90  do  Durris. 
Do  Nobilis  ...  82  do  Dunblane. 
Do  do  ...  64  do  Haddo  House. 
Do  Pectinata  ...  1 10  do  Luss. 
Dumbarton. 
(The  loftiest  in  Scotland). 
Only  one  specimen  of  Dacrydium  (the  celebrated 
Huan  pine.)  is  enumerated,  8 feet  high.  No  phly- 
locladus,  though  specimeus  of  this  valuable  and 
beautiful  pine  were  said  to  thrive  in  County  Down 
30  years  ago.  Tho  peculiarity  of  this  tree  is  that 
its  wood  is  unshrinkable.  It  may,  and  often  is  in 
Tasmania  out  down  one  day  and  made  into  furui 
ture  the  next,  without  fear  of  shrinkage  or  warping.* 
A.  S. 
THE  AMSTERDAM  CINCHONA  AUCTIONS. 
(Telegram  from  our  Correspondent.) 
Amsterdam,  Thursday  Night. 
At  today’s  bark  sales  a considerable  proportion  of 
the  Java  cinchona  offered  was  bought  in,  only  3,690 
packages  beiog  sold  at  an  average  decliue  of  5 per 
cent,  on  the  preceding  auctions,  the  unit  being  now 
5-80c.,  or  equal  to  just  Id  per  lb.  Manufacturing 
barks  in  chips,  broken  quill,  and  dust  brought  from 
# I would  be  glad  to  learn  if  this  valuable  tree 
(the  Celerytopped  pine)  has  been  introduced  into 
Ceylon.  I sent  seeds  at  one  time,  fent  never  heard  if 
they  germinated. 
5c  to  80c  (equal  to  2Jd  to  7jd)  ; druggists’  barks  in 
broken  and  whole  quill,  partly  very  fine,  from  10c 
to  122c  (equal  to  2d  to  Is  lOd  ; ditto  root,  10c  to  16c 
(equal  to  2d  to  3d  per  lb.)  Tho  principal  buyers  were 
the  Manub  i m Brunswick,  and  Auerbach  Quinine- 
works,  Mr.  Gustav  Briegleb,  and  Messrs.  Alatthes  & 
Bormresttr, — Chemist  and  Druggist,  Jan.  14. 
CHINESE  TEA  MILLIONAIRES. 
There  are,  we  understand,  altogether  in  the 
various  tea  districts  as  many  as  eighteen  reputed 
millionaires.  The  least  wealthy  of  these  is  said 
to  be  possessed  of  two  millions  of  dollars  and  the 
richest  eight  millions,  all  made  out  of  the  tea 
trade  in  its  flourishing  days.  In  spite  of  the  adverse 
turn  taken  in  the  trado  they  still  continue  in  it. — 
Foochow  Echo,  Jan.  14. 
SPORT  IN  SOUTHERN  INDIA  AND  JAVA. 
A most  handsome  volume,  copiously  illustrated  and 
well  primed  on  good  paper,  bas  recently  been  added 
to  the  always  increasing  library  of  the  chase,  under 
the  title  of  Records  of  Sport  in  Southern  India  by  (be 
late  General  DouglaB  Hamilton,  m.d.  (Porter) 
General  Hamilton’s  experience  in  Sou' h India  appears 
to  have  exttndtd  from  1839  (o  1871,  and  conse- 
quently was  chiefly  with  the  mnzzle-loader ; indeed,  it 
does  not  appear  that  he  ever  used  a breech -loading 
rifle  in  India.  Hence  his  book  is  useful  rather  as 
a record  of  wbat  has  been  done  than  aa  a guide 
to  what  may  be  done  now.  And  it  is  doubtful  whether 
the  increased  advantages  in  weapons  compensate  for 
the  decrease  of  game  which  is  general  over  India  Bave 
where  it  is  spe  cially  preserved.  In  fact,  one  of  the 
first  tilings  about  this  book  to  strike  a sportsman  as 
remarkable  is  the  great  variety  and  quantity  of  game 
fonnd  in  a limited  area.  It  seemed  by  no  means 
uncommon  that  the  author  should  go  out  in  quest  of 
ooo  sort  of  game  and  retnrn  having  killed  or  seen 
in  additioa  four  or  five  wholly  distinct  species.  For 
some  of  ti.e  animals  the  Dame  used  by  Madras  sports- 
men seem  singularly  inappropriate.  Thus  thov  in. 
variably  call  the  gaur  ( Gaveus  gaums)  a bison,  which 
is  wroDg  ; the  author,  curiously  enough,  p.  237,  Aid- 
ing fault  with  Ool.  Campbell  for  saying  that  they 
call  this  animal  a witd  bull,  which  is  right.  More- 
over, though  a fine  aDimal,  it  does  not  equal  in  size 
or  spirit  the  wild  buffalo  (B.  ami),  whose  horns  in- 
stead of  beiog  from  twenty  to  thirty-five  inches, 
attain  the  prodigious  length  of  six  and  half  feet,  and 
are  used  by  it  to  charge,  ana  even  overthrow,  & moder- 
ate-sized elephant.  Again,  the  well-known  barbing 
deer  (0.  aureus  or  C.  muntjac)  is  miscalled  “jungl* 
sheep”;  the  reason  given  for  so  doing  sounds  somewhat 
Irish — “the  name  being  derived  from  the  word  Jungle 
bakri,”  which  unfortunately  means  wild  goat.  The 
wild  goat  of  the  Nilgiri  hills  is  styled  ibex,  a term 
which  is,  however,  somewhat  elastic  and  indefinite. 
Obap.  iv.  in  which  the  reader  is  carried  to  Singapore, 
Java,  and  LsbuaD,  has  interest  apart  from  that  belong- 
ing to  t-port.  In  it  several  words  are  used  which  ap- 
pear to  form  part  of  the  colloquial  speech  of  Java, 
and  are  not  to  be  found  in  Yule’s  “ Glossary.”  They 
would  have  greatly  interested  the  accomplished  author 
— now,  alas!  no  more—  of  that  mine  of  information; 
and  as  thsy  may  still  be  of  service  to  his  book,  w6 
quote  the  following  (p.  78):— “These  trees  are  gener- 
ally plauted  iu  the  centre  of  the  Allon-Allon,  the 
Javanese  name  for  the  open  square  before  all  the 
houses  of  the  great  men,  on  which  they  bavo  theie 
tiger  fights  and  parades  of  troops,  Ac  ” Again  p.  84. 
“There  are  open  plains  of  low  allonj  -allony*  (a  broad- 
bladed  grass),  up  to  a man’s  waist,”  and,  p.  89,  “ the 
banting  (A.  sondaicus),  somewhat  like  an  Indian 
bison.”  Banteng  is  mentioned  in  Jordon’s  “ Mammals 
of  India”  as  the  Burmese  wild  cow.  We  have  diffi- 
culty in  excusing  the  constant  slaughter  of  females 
* This  should,  of  course,  be  “ ol&Dg’alaug,”  the  illuk 
grass  of  Cejlon.—ED.  T.4. 
