Due. 1, 1899.] 
THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURIST. 
381 
able in an emiueut degree to suitability of soil and 
climatic conditions. 
From the last cutting the finest cloth is made ; 
after eacii catting, it is mentioned, the plants are 
watered and manured : obviously this is a detail of 
considerable importance in the production of subse- 
quent crop, probably the v/artering would not in 
consequence of the monsoon season be neecifull in 
India, but the manuring could not fail to be of con- 
siderable service. 
From this it will be seen the Chinese pay great 
attantioa to cultivation, preparing the ground well 
manuiing it, and manuring at every cutting or three 
times a year ; great paius are taken with the seedlings 
too; all this tands to show in an unmistakabla manner 
that rhea for commercial purpose must have a thorough 
culture, and disposes of the stupid somewhat prevalent 
notion that rhea will grow anywhere and anyhow ; 
the fact moreover that the plant is cut down thrse 
times a year inducing a three-fold demand on the soil 
in the one year will ever conititute the rhea plant a 
rapid soil exhauster, and ihe Chinese have lecognised 
that fact very well by manuring at ever cutting. This 
ia an important fact to remenber. Commercial rhea 
will always mean a thoiougii and systematic culture, 
and this fact should ba forced home with the manu- 
factures from the planters' standpoint and low prices 
stoutly resisted. 
Mr. Henley, who made a special visit to Run- 
pore in 1817 in order to obtain a quantity of the 
fibre from the Rungpore fishermen states : — '' It 
however requires a rich free soil and plenty of 
manure." No doubt the Rungpore plant was iden- 
tical with Roxburgh's BoeJiiueria tenacissima, and 
it is so called by iilr. Henley, and in the matter of 
soil and manure it would reasonably appear to 
differ nothing from the sub-tropical China type. 
But ia all other respects, as regards requisit 
climatic conditions, we must again accentuate the 
great difference between the two forms. I may venture 
to sum up what we believe will be found satisfactory 
conditions fof Boeh.meria nivea — tlie China type only:— 
Plantini/ localities, — -All suitable spots as regards 
soil from the base of the Himalayas up to three 
thousand feet elevation; or any other purts in Indi.i, 
giving fi'om 1,000_ to 3,000 feet elevation. 
Soils. — lhareisan absolutely unauimous consensug 
of opinion that rhea requires a free, easily worked, 
friable soil, and this is quite comprehensible when 
we have in mind the fact that the rhea plant is a 
herbaceous perennial plant of rapid growth, and there- 
fore requires a soil in which the roots can move 
about freely and rp-pidly. Within the areas noted 
~ . jthere are numerous places giving a considerable depth 
of rich porous vegetable soil admirably suited for 
this class of plant, 
- Brzinage. — This should be beyond all possible doubt 
good. Lands liable to be submerged or swamped, or 
even to lay wet for any length of time, should be 
studiously avoided. There is ample evidence in the 
shape of the wild forms taking no exception to great 
rainfalls where the drainage is perfect; rhea land 
should be such as to allow of heavy monsoon rains 
draining rapidly aw.'.y. Here again the Himalayan 
slopes offers a drainngj not by any means always 
available on the plains. 
Given approximately thesa conditions, I am con- 
fident BoeJtiiieria nivca would for the most part 
thrive abundantly. 
In support of this view I may briefly note Boehmei-ia 
frutescens. Of this kind Dr. Campboll wrote in 18-17— 
"It grows w'ld and abundantly in the valleys through 
the mountains of Eastern Nepal and Sikhim, at the 
foot o£ the hills skirting the Terai ; to the elevation 
of 1,000 01- 1,200 fest, and within the mountains up 
to 3,000 feet elevation." This is the Pooah of Dar- 
jeeling and Sikihim, and the Poet of Kumaon and 
Gurhwal, and Boehiaeria frutescens of botanists indi- 
genous to the sub-montana Himalayas from Gurhwall 
to Sikhim Hills. And also of Japan ^ but I may 
remark I have seen this plant in many places in 
Kumaon growing luxuriantly at between four and 
something over five thousand feet elevation. Dr. 
Campbell sta'es that it grows to seven or eight feet 
high with stems the size of a pencil to that of the 
thumb, but he could no where fiud it on the plains 
and the hill-men considered it a hill plant. - 
Sampl' s of the fibre of this kind were sent to the 
Flax and Hemp Committee, and prououuced by 
Captain Thomson equal to the finest flax and the 
best thing he had seen in India for sail cloths. I 
regard this as the wild form of the sub-tropical 
type, and no doubt the bon-rhea that grew wild 
all over Assam is approximately the wild form of 
the tropical type. 
Dr. MacGowan also says of the China plant; — 
" Foot of hills and dry places : the fatal error is 
and has been the distribution of this type over the 
scorching plains of India. Those who intend rhea 
on the plains should undoubtedly confine their at- 
tention solely to the acclimatised tropical form such 
as the Rungpore. Assam and Malay plant." 
Provided the soil is rich and drainage perfect, 
this is the type of rampant rapid growth, great size 
and length, such for example that grows so well in 
certain parts of Ceylon with its mean annual tem- 
perature of 78 degrees. 
CONCLUSION. 
Here then is the Clm Ma of the Chinese, the rhea 
of the Assamese, the ran of the Shans, kunkkwa of 
Rungpore, Bengal, ramie of the Straits Settlement, 
calooe of Sumatra. For all practical purposes this 
is one and the same thing under greatly differing 
climatic conditions. It has been shown that the China 
plant is of enormous antiquity, probably quite five 
thousand years .■ in all probability the Bengal and 
Assam type has been indigenous for many centuries, 
and likewise the Sumatra stock. As for the wild forms 
it would be rash to speculate on their age. 
During these lengthened periods each stock has 
become acclimatised to its respective environments, 
so that to-day they are amenable to advantage to a 
sub-tropical and tropical clime only ; and the great 
mistake is to make these terms convertible, and mix 
the olimatioally wholly different forms together, and 
assume either one or the other is interchangeable 
for any parts of India. A misapprehension of this 
essential poiut cannot fail to be a source of failure 
in rhea culture. HIMALAYBNSIS. 
— Pioneer Nov. 8. 
YANILLA. 
Botanical Observations. 
Vanilla is tho generic name of epiphytical orchids 
indigenous to tropical America and Asia. 
During their flist siage of development they strike 
root and obtain nourishment from the ground, then 
they creep up trees to a height of 30 or 40 feet 
by sending out thread-like roots from knotty stems, 
Tho stem is from 2 to 3 centimeters thick; ihe 
leaves grow in to long rows and are loug, green 
and fleshy. Clusters of blossoms grow out at the 
angle between stem and leaf they are large and 
fleshy, and of a whitish yellow colour and pleasant 
odour. Following the blossoms come cylindrical pods, 
8 or 10 inches long, which split on one s4de and are 
filled with a number of small black seeds. The 
latter suggest sand, they arc imbedded ia similarly 
coloured pulp. The fruit is yellow when ripe. Oa 
drying, it turns black, and forms the well known 
spice. The number of members of this family is not 
yet established; iudeed some difference of opinion 
exists whether these are species or only varieties, 
It has not yet been exactly determined which kinds 
of fruit are u.ilizad either in the trade or at the 
place of production. In Mexico 4 useful kinds are 
known: — Manilla, V. sijlvestris, V planifolia and V. 
pompona. 
In Guiana :— Vanilla guianensis, with large yellow 
blossoms and long fruit. In the province of Bahia : — 
Vanilla palmariiia. In Brazil and peru : — Vanilla pom- 
pona and aromatica ; the latter notwithstanding itg 
name, having- the least pleasant odour. 
