782 
Stipplemenl to the ''Tropical Agriculturist*' [May 1, 1902. 
come to recognize its dietic value and medicinal 
virtues. The plant hns not flowered with us yet. 
2. Ckemopodium album. — The white goosefoot 
( Ckenopodiaceee). 
The plant is found growing in tlie tropica at 
eea-level, as well as in Tibet at a height of 
14,000 feet. As seen growing here it reaches 
a height of about 3 feet before producing its 
inconspicuous imflorescence. 
In India the leaves and twigs are eaten as a pot- 
herb like spinach, but the plant is there chiefly 
cultivated for its grain, whicli is considered 
better than buckwheat. AVhen cultivated during 
the rains it is said to attain a height of 6 feet, 
the seed ripening in India in October. Prof. 
Church says of the leaves of this plant : They 
are rich in mineral matters, particularly in 
potash salts. They likewise contain a con- 
siderable amount of albumenoids and of other 
compounds of nitrogen. 
Watt refers thus to the medicinal virtues of this 
plant : — Said to be used in special diseases, and 
as a laxative in spleen and bilious disorders 
(Atkinson), It is also given in bile and worms 
(Baden-Powell). It is diobstruent and diuretic. 
In the form of the favourite native dish 
called "mellun" it is very palatable, and would 
be very welcome in village household?. We 
have no doubt it will be equally suitable for 
vegetable curry. 
The plant is already being grown in School 
Gardens, and the produce formed one of the 
vegetables exhibited at the Danowila Village 
Show held on 22nd March. 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
.A Boad of Agriculture and Industries has been 
formed in British Guiana, with the object of 
facilitating the work of fostering Agricultural 
industries other than that of Sugar-cane, of e.xtend- 
ing ogricultural instruction to small farmers and 
settlers on the land, of imparting agricultural 
instruction through the Primary Schools of the 
Colony, and generally of developing the agricul- 
tural resources of British Guiana. 
The consignment of Banana plants referred to 
in our last issue duly arrived from Queens- 
land, ond have already been planted out. It 
includes two plants of each of the following 
varieties: — Ladies' Angers, Sugar, Butter, Dacca, 
Barrego, Cavendish, Moku, Delena, 
Professor MacOwan, Government Botanist at 
the Cape, has been invested with the degree of 
Doctor of Science by the Cape University. Prof, 
MacOwan's work in South African botany his 
of a valuable character, and Prof. Harvey 
of Kew has borne testimony to this fact 
by stating that but for Prof. MocOwan's great 
work at the Cape the "Flora Capensis" would 
have been miserably incomplete. We offer our 
hearty congratulations to Dr. MacOwan. 
We are glad to find the Agricultural Journal of 
Cape Colony reprinting the Handbook on Practi- 
cal Orchard work by Messrs. P. MacOwan and 
Eustace Pillans. We formed a very high opinion 
of this little work when it was first published, and 
consider it well worth bringing within the reach of 
all who have anything to do with the cultivation 
of fruit trees. 
The cultivation of Cassava or Manioc {Manihot 
utilissima) is spreading rapidly in Florida and 
the neighbouring States. One great advantage 
is that the plant grows in sandy soils unsuited to 
most crops, and can be fertilized by means of 
leguminous crops without the aid of other 
manures. The acre is said to yield 8 tons of 
roots, and the starch got from it is sold for 2^d. per 
lb., while it goes six times as far as the best wheat 
starch at 3d. per lb. As a cattle food it is a great 
acquisition, making it possible, so it is said, to 
put on a pound of carcase at the cost of a little 
over a ^d. 
We are glad to learn that Messrs. C. C. Barber's 
Cocoa (see advertii-emeut on back cover) has 
" taken " in Australia. It has been aacepted 
by approved Agents in Perth, Sydney, and New 
South Wales, and its introduction into Queensland 
and Tasmania has been entrusted to good hands. 
The first orders received from various quarters 
have been substantial and promise well for the 
popularizing of the excellent article turned out 
by the pioneer firm of Cocoa manufacturers in 
Ceylon, where Barber's Cocoa is steadily taking 
the place of the older " brands." 
The following Ceylon plants are gall-bearing : 
Eugenia Jambolana, Areca Catechu, Ciuuamomura 
Zeylauicum, Pongamia Glabra, Terminalia Chebula 
and Acacia Leucophlea. The fruit of Terminalia 
Chebula and T. Belerica constitute the "Gall- 
nuts " or Myrobalans of commerce, valuable ia 
tanning, 
A correspondent, writing on 20th March from 
Adelaide says : — The land is most fertile and the 
climate, except for two or three months, equal to 
that of the countries washed by the Mediterranean. 
During the summer, which we have just passed, 
the temperature keeps often over 90 ° F., and some- 
time?, for a day or so, it goes up as high as 103 ® ; 
but by the laws of compensation, the Mercury 
falls to a temperate heat for a day or two ulter. 
There is plenty of good land to be got from 
Government at a rental of 2s. per acre per annum, 
and twenty years to pay the value in, or on a lease 
of 999 years at 2s. This is the paradise of the 
working man. Every man and woman must 
Ivork, and the dignity of labour is understood here 
as nowhere else. Farmer and labourer have equal 
rights, and the man in Parliament is dependent 
chiefly on the working man for his election. This, 
in a measure, enables the working man to rule 
the capitalist and to control the laws of the 
couutry. 
The sentiments embodied in the article on Town 
and Country Shows which appeared in the last 
number of the Agricultural Magazine ATQichoGdiin 
the Cape Agrtcultural Journal. Says our contem- 
porary ; " Let it be prominently borne in mind that 
