June 1, 1904.] THE TKOPICAL 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
{To lite Editor.) 
CEYLON RAINY SEASON-MUSUEOOM 
SPAWN. 
Dear Sir,— I am writing to ask you how the eeasona 
in Oeylon and Java conespond. For instance, a book 
I got from Ceylon may advise planting out rubber at 
the start of the rainy season ; what month does the 
rainy season begin in Ceylon ? 
Sometime ago I read in the " Tropical Agriculturist ' 
the article on Gardening in which mushroom spawn 
was mentioned, What is mushroom spawn, ffnd liow 
is it obtained ? At present I am in the southern hills 
of Java and have no near neighbours of whom I can 
enquire. 
Yours sincerely, 
Kesamben Blitai, Java. A.ALLEN, 
[The rainy season in Ceylon starts about the middle 
of May and lasts till middle oi July, planting being 
done in June. There is another more evenly-scattered 
rainfall towards the end of the year ; but it is during 
the above months that the heavy falls come. Mush- 
rooms are propagated by spores, whicli are in 
the form of fine black dust and are produced in the 
mature mushrooms. When these spores fall on suit- 
able soil, especially dung or some similar substance, 
they begin to grow and develop into what ia called 
mycelium. This mycelium consists of whitish threads 
which permeate the dry dung and is then called 
" spawn. " Spawn, when planted in suitable conditions, 
such as a'made-up hot mushroom bed, produces mush- 
rooms. Spawn is found in old pastures where cattle 
have grazed and in decn.yed mushroom bed?!. The 
spawn is made up into the form of bricks and sold by 
nurserymen as mushroom bricks or mushroom spawn. 
This spawn will keep indefinitely. To grow mush- 
room from spawn, a prepared bed is made of layers of 
earth and hoise manure, and broken pieces of the spawn 
about the size of walnuts placed in the bed which 
is kept well watered. The heat of the fermenting 
manure induces the spawn to tirow and produce mush- 
rooms. Any large nurserymen and horticulturists in 
England will supply mushroom spawn, but we do not 
know of any eastern firm supplying it.— Ed. T, A.] 
NEW PLANTS FROM THE CONGO, 
THE LAURENT EXPEDITION. 
The botanical treasures collected in the Belgian 
Congo by the late Prof. Emile Lurent and his nephew, 
M. Marcel Laurent, have arrived at the Brussels 
Botanic Garden. They are contained in some fifty 
cases. Twelve of these are devoted to a herbarium 
of about 3,000 specimens. The others contain 
varicus fruits preserved in spirit, or bulky objects, 
such as complete racemes of many species of Raphia 
measuring about 5 feet long, There are also samples 
of soils, waters, rubber of divers kinds. Lianas, seeds, 
and so on. M. Be Wilderaau has begun to arrange 
the herbarium specimens, among which he has 
already found a remarkable sot of varieties of Coffee, 
Kickxias, and especially a great number of myrme- 
cophytes and of acarophytea. 
MVIiMBCOPUYTIC PLANTS. 
After his second expedition in 1895-1896, M. E, 
Laurent devoted attention to these curious plants, 
which in their stems or the folds of their leaves 
provide shelter for numerous ants. He had gathered 
some whose " myimecophytic '' characters were 
already known. His new expedition has furnished 
Bome6ix or seven of these plants, some of which 
are probibly new. 
From a scientific point of view this discovery is 
the more interesting, as for a long time it has been sur- 
mised that America was richer in " myrmecophytes " 
and " acaropbytes ' than ia Africa. 
AGMCULTURIST. 813 
Acarophytic plants, which harbour mites in the 
folds and even in the tissues of the leaves and at 
the angles of the veius, are fairly common in Africa, 
One of the best examples of acarophytism is 
THE LIDEEIAN COl'EEE PLANT. 
as in its " pockets " they can plainly be seen forming 
on the upper surface of the leaves at the junction of 
the midrib and side veins small semi-globular swellings. 
AmoQg acarophytic plants may be mentioned also 
the well-known Funtunia elastica. one of the most 
important rubber-trees of the Free State. 
ANTS IN AFIIICA. 
There are numerous species of ants in Africa, 
'^nd of all sizes, from those as small as a pin'a 
head to those as large as a big beetle. They 
inhabit certain trees, and we can here only briefly 
observe that in the clearings a niyrmecophytic 
tree is spared by the natives owing to the dangeroua 
ants it harbours. The sting of these ants is piercing ; 
repealled, it is mortal to some animals and dangerous 
even to men. The natives are so well aware of this 
that to punish a criminal they tie him to one of 
these trees whereupon the stings of the ants inflict 
severe injuries upon him, No parasites are obser- 
vable on such trees. 
It is to be hoped, writes Mons. L. Gentil in the 
" Gardeners' Chronicle," that the results of the 
Laurent expedition will not be lost to science, and 
that a detailed report of them will be published, 
making public the services rendered by the African 
traveller and botanist whose recent death is so 
deplored in Belgium. 
NUMBER OP PLANTS TO THE ACRE. 
The following table, showing the number of plants 
to the acre when planted at various distances, aud 
the area, in square feet, available for each plant 
will be useful for reference : — 
Square Number Square Number 
feet to of plants feet to of plants 
Feet 
each 
to the 
Feet 
each 
to the. 
apatt. 
plant. 
acre. 
apart. 
plant. 
acre. 
1 « 1 
1 
43,560 
7 X 
7 
49 
889 
2x1 
2 
21,780 
7 X 
8 
56 
778 
2x2 
4 
10,190 
8 X 
8 
64 
681 
2 M 3 
6 
7,260 
9 M 
9 
81 
538 
3x3 
9 
4,840 
10 X 
10 
100 
435 
3 M 4 
12 
3,630 
12 « 
li 
144 
302 
4x4 
16 
2,722 
15 X 
15 
225 
193 
4x5 
20 
2,178 
16 X 
16 
256 
170 
5x5 
25 
1,742 
17 X 
17 
289 
151 
5x6 
30 
1,452 
18 ^ 
18 
324 
134 
6x6 
36 
1,210 
20 X 
20 
400 
109 
6x7 
42 
1,037 
25 X 
25 
625 
69 
COCA PRODUCTION IN BOLIVIA. 
The Belgian Consul-General in Bolivia has published 
a report containing some interesting information 
concerning the coca industry of that country. The 
inhabitants of the province of Yungas devote them- 
selves almost exclusively to the cultivation of the 
coca shrub : coiiee, cocoa, sugar, oranges, bananas, 
&c. are also numbered among the products of the 
country, but these are only grown in sufficient 
quantity to suffice for home consumption. These 
product? are cultivated throughout Yungas, bat only 
on a very limited scale. Of ccffee-planlations, it may 
be said that there are hardly any worthy of the 
name. Coffee-tree? form the hedges bordering the 
coca plantations. The cacao tiee is seen in the 
valleys and nearriver?, but is never cultivated in any 
syEtematic fashion. 
CINCHONA OUSTED BV CEYLON AND J.WA, 
Cinchona was;formerly grown ; but now that the 
