866 
Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist." 
[June 1, 1900. 
a seedless fruit, although occasionally a few small 
seeds are to be found in it. The navel orange 
was an effort of nature to produce twins, but one 
of the twins aborted, merely sui-viving as a pro- 
tuberance in the blossom end of the orange, a 
little kernel enveloped in the skin, which closely 
resembles the human navel in appearance. In the 
effort to produce a monstrosity the seeds were 
apparently neglected. By taking the scions of 
this fruit tree and grafting them on seedling stock 
we have practically established a seedless orange. 
It is, furtheimore, remarkable because of its ex- 
cellent quality and size- Usually the freaks of 
nature produce fruits that are not very good. 
Thus quite a number of apple tree have been pro- 
duced, the fruit which is neaily or quite seedless. 
Their origin has been largely the same as that of 
the navel orange. They are generally abnormalities, 
and they are often called * bloomless,' because the 
blossoms have no petals and sometimes jack 
stamens. Their appearance and quality are not 
such as to recommend them to the general con- 
sumer. The core is small and insignificant, but 
the shape is peculiar and the flavour poor. 
" But seedless apples and pears of good quality 
may yet be propagated, and gardeners are working 
toward this end. Recent new varieties show great 
improvements over those first produced, and in 
the course of time careful culture and selection 
may bring about the desired results. How much 
the culture, selection and environment have to do 
with the proper development of the fruits is 
apparent in the case of seedless currants of Corinth 
or the Sultana grapes of southern Europe. These 
were supposed to have been as full of seeds as any 
other fruits far back in history, but successive 
years of culture and selection eliminated the seeds 
and improved the quality of the fruits. How the 
cnlturists first got their hint of seedless fruits is 
not known, but it is reasonable to believe that 
they took advantage of a freak of nature which 
produced a vine with fruits that had very few or 
no seeds. 
" Experiments are now being made in California 
with the famous Muscat grape of Alexandria 
(Hanepoot). This famous raisin grape would be 
greatly enhanced in value if the seeds could all be 
eliminated. Considerable progress has been made 
in this direction by selecting cuttings from vines 
which produce grapes with less than the normal 
number of seeds. Several smaller varieties of 
seedless grapes have been in existence for many 
years, but most of them are inferior in some way 
to the best raisin grapes raised for market. Seed- 
less fruits will be a success only when, in addition 
to maturing without seeds, the size and quality of 
the fruits will be equal or superior to the best 
▼arieties in the country. That is the essential 
reason why the navel orange is the greatest suc- 
cess of modern horticulture." — Louisiana Planter. 
SOME BIBLE PLANTS OF CEYLON. 
L— Camphibe. 
The Hebrew word copher or kopher occurs in 
the Song of Solomon, and has been translated 
Gamphire, Thus the King says; "My beloved 
is unto me as a cluster of camphiro iu the vine- 
yards of En-gedi ; " and again, " Thy plants are 
■un orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; 
camphire, with spikenard. The Hebrew word, 
(says Balfour) resembles the Greek Kapros or 
Cypres, whicli is applied by Dioscorides and 
Pliny to a plant known to botanists by the name 
of Lazvsonia inennis, and belonging to the order 
Lythraceae or loosestrife family. Tlie common 
names by which it is known are Henna and 
Marathondi. Its fragrant flowers grow in clusters 
and are used to dye the hair, the nails, the palms of 
the hands and the soles of the feet, of an iron-rust 
colour. • Henna powder is procured from the 
leaves and stem of the plant. This is put into hot 
water, stirred and boiled well, and then left on 
the fire for two hours until the mass becomes a 
paste. It is then applied to the hair and the 
skin whicli it tinges an orange colour. The 
plant is also used for dyeing Morocco leather. 
The custom of dyeing the nails was an ancient 
one in Egypt, and it is said that tlie nails of 
mummies (particularly females) sometimes show 
traces of it. Some tliiuk that there is an allu- 
sion made to the practice iu Deut. xxi. 12, 
where, in place of "pare her nails, "the phrase 
might be rendered" adorn her nails." 
Henna is also known as the Cyprus shrub or the 
Egyptian privet. Dr. Watt mentions that the 
selling price of the leaves in the Punjab averages 
El for 12 seers, which makes the value of the 
crop per acre about R66. 
A decoction of the leaves is used for dyeing 
cloth, the colour produced being a shade of yellow - 
ish or reddish brown known as Malagiri, It is 
also used in combination with other dyes for 
dyeing handkerchiefs an almond colour. The 
plant is also much used medicinally for numerous 
complaints, while the sweet odour of the 
flowers makes it a great favourite in tropical 
gardens where it has earned the name of " tree 
mignonette." The perfume has always been in 
great repute, and both an otto and fragrant 
water was (and in some places still is) in use 
among the Jews, Egyptians and Mohammedans. 
♦ 
CLASSIFICATION OF FIBRES. 
The uses of fibres or fibrous substances in the 
coarse weaving or plaiting of basketry is an 
industry that belongs to all civilized countries 
and that is practised by the native tribes of the 
world, but a catalogue of the varied forms would 
be too long for enumeration in these pages, By 
reason of the similarity of construction and 
materials used, we must also include in this 
class a considerable number of articles that re- 
semble baskets, known as willow ware, such as 
hampers and infants' carriages, and even chairs that 
are produced from willow withes, and chair bottoms 
are also included. While the commercial basket 
material is confined chiefly to osiers, or willows, to 
certain forms of wood splints, and to a few 
species of rushes and grain straws, the native 
and Indian basket fibres are legion, for they 
include a range of vegetable substances from 
the stipes of delicate ferns and the smaller 
grasses, through the sedges, reeds, the bamboos, 
the paling and liliaceous plants, to the stems an4 
