MAROrt 1, 1900.1 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 615§ 
Plants by the way, do uot always take kinaly to 
these great conservatories. They sicken and pme, 
and it is found necessary to maintain at Kew a 
small cosv structure, familiarly known in the 
Gardens as " the hospital." In the great houses 
it is extremely difficult to maintain the atmos- 
phere at an equable and genial temperature. The 
plants suffer from the inrush of cold wmds 
through the opened doors, and from the impact 
of the heated air on the under side of their leaves, 
but perhaps some day the prisoners in the glass- 
houses at Kew mav have their homes ^varmed in 
the manner adopted for sick prisoners at A\orm- 
wood Scrubbs, where the cells are heated by hot 
air carried in at the top and sucked out at the 
bottom. This would warm the upper sides of 
their foliage just as the sun does, and no doubt 
be better for them. As it is, the more delicate 
plants frequently have to go into hospital, or they 
would die, as indeed many of them do out- 
right. 
At the south end of the Gardens is the 
Great Palm House, which was built in 1845. at 
a cost of £33,000. It is 362 feet long, 100 feet 
oroad and 66 feet high, and contains nearly an 
acre of glass. Inside it is easy to imagine oneself 
in a tropical forest. Palms, tree-ferns, and others 
of like kind flourish here: and the visitor may 
note the date-palm, the betel-nut, the coconut, 
the upas-tree, the bamboo, the cotton-plant, the 
coffee-shrub, the tamarind and the clove. East 
of the Palm House is the lake, and westward 
stretches an avenue through the Arboretum 
nearly three quai'ters of a mile long. This is 
known as Syon Vista, the Duke of Northumber- 
land's estate being within view on the opposite 
bank of the Thames. 
The famous hhododendbon walk, which is one 
of the chief sights at Kew, runs parallel with 
the Thames, and is situated near the north- 
west corner of the Arboretum. The variety of 
colour here displayed— seen at its best, per- 
haps, in June — is to those only acquainted 
with the somewhat stunted shrubs common in 
private gardens, a relation of unexpected beauty. 
In its way, the Rhododendron Walk is as famou» 
as is the avenue of horse-chestnuts in Bushey 
Park, though it has not attained the dignitj^ 
of being identified with any particular Sunday. 
The Arboretum used to be separated from the 
Botanic Gardens proper by a wire fence ; and 
until a few years ago, to the unscientific male 
visitor, the chief distinction lay in the fact that 
in the former smoking was permitted, whereas 
in the Gardens it was prohibited. 
The " ARBORETUM " — the original Eoyal Pleasure 
Grounds — is a kind of nursery in itself. Here 
for the past two centuries, experiments have 
been made in the acclimatisation of trees and 
shrubs from various foreign countries, and all 
our parks and public gardens have been enriched 
and oeautified by the additions that this portion 
of Kew Gardens has made to our botanical 
wealth. At one extremity of the Arboretum there 
is a considerable plot of ground parcelled out in 
squares snugly shut in by thick hedges of privet 
and holly, ilere are nourished thousands of young 
foreigners, by-and-by to be planted out in the 
open grounds, but, at present, too delicate to 
stand our biting winds. Near this nursery are 
the filter beds, by which all the water supplied 
to Kew Gardens is filtered. It is drawn in from 
th6 Thames to the great lake in the Arboretum, 
pumped up into the filter beds, then forced up 
into tanks in Richmond Park, and thence su]> 
plied to Kew by gravitation. 
To distinguish it from others, the museum at 
Kew Gardens is known as museum No. 1. Con- 
sisting of three floors and Italian in style, the 
building faces the Palm House, the large and 
picturesque lake lying between the two struc- 
tures. The Museum was begun in the early 
ilf ties, and it was extended in iSbl, so crowded 
had it become with the vegetable econo mic pro- 
ducts and preparations of scientiiie interest sent 
for exhibition within its walls. Food, drugs, 
fibres, timber, are among the varied and carefully 
classified specimens, and in some cases the pro- 
cesses of manufaoture are illustrated. It has, 
been well said that the aim of the iiuthorities 
is to explain in this Museum everythina; of interest 
tc botanists which the plants, ^vhile ;{livo, cannot 
set forth. 
So many are the attractions of these beauti' 
ful Gardens that it is difficult to select any 
particular house for special notice. Popular favour 
has indicated the Water-lily House as certainly 
one of the most interesting. It is situated near 
the large Palm House already referred to, by the 
pond at the south end of the Gardens. The tank 
is 30 feet in diameter, and contains many rare 
Tarieties of water-lilies. From centre rises a 
very fine PapjTus plant. In addition to the 
numerous lilies, the Sacrod Bean of Egypt, the 
Telegraph Plant of India, the Sensitive Plant, 
and other curiosities, are to be found in the 
house, which is well calculated to arouse the 
interest of even the most ignoranc visitor. The 
famous Victoria Regia Water-lily, of which so 
much is heard, grows in another building,— 
Cassel's Isew Penny Magaiine. 
MINOK PRODUCTS REPORT. 
AsECi. Nuts.— Offered. 117 package?.. Sold, .37. 
These were cheaper, a drop of .53 to 7a being experi- 
enced. Tbe prices were frem 15s 6d to 173 6d. 
CocoaL/baves.— Ofiered5pacl[a6;es. Soldo. Ceylon 
leavea of Huanoco character sold at Is 0|d, and 
broiien small at 7d. 
CiTEoNELLA OiL. — Ofteied, 4 packagon. Sold 0. 
These werp boup.ht in at la Id 
Cinnamon. — In auction, on Wednesday, 2,54 pack- 
ages were offered and 2.^ sold at 5d for wild with- 
out reserve. -^ B. and C. Drwjyist, Feb. 9. 
Cinchona. — The Nederslandche Veem cinchona de- 
partment at Amsterdam report the shipm'?nts during 
January, 1900. from Java to Europp, at 61.5,000 A,mst. 
lb against 50y,800, 1899 ; 956,000, 1898; 390,000, 1897 ; 
970,000 1896; 6.57,000 1895; and 893,000 1894. The 
total amount of bark to be offered at the Amster- 
dam auctions on February 15th, weighs 513,644 
kilos., containing 23,504 kilos, quinine sulphate, with 
an average percentage of 5*04 per cent., against 
5'30 per cent in the January auctions, and 5"38 per 
cent for the ten auctions of 1899. 
Cocoa Butter. — For the 70 tons oiSered at Amster- 
dam on Tuesday, there was a brisk demand. The 
auctions opened at 94^c, advancing rapidly to 120jo, 
the average price being 105'45 per half-kilo. Twelve 
tons of Helm brand sold at 100c to lOSjc-, and 4 tons 
de Jong at lOOc to lOOJo, while 5 tons Mignon were 
bought ill. In London auctions 110 tons Cadbury's 
brand sold at Is 4|d to la 5Jd per pound, the average 
being a fraction over Is 4|d against 1st 5 9-16d 
in January. — Chemist t-ni, Drugqisf, Feb. 10. 
India-eubu' R i« produced by the landolpliia of 
Africa, arid the French have m ule large planta- 
tions of it, but tiiere has been a dillicnlty of 
gettinti; the gum fmm the Iiark as well as from 
the leaves. M M Arnand and Verneui', in a paper 
to the Acadeinie des Sciences, Paris, describe.s a 
new metliod wliioh extracte good rubber from the 
bark.— Cr7o&e, Feb. 9.. 
