43^ 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICUl/I’CRIST. 
IJan.  I,  1896. 
the  cause  of  some  being  killed  was  that  their  in'o- 
toplasni  had  not  yet  become  completely  uiei’t- 
If  this  result  be  true,  then,  one  would  expect  that 
seeds  could  be  maintained  with  impunity  in  a medium 
unsuitable  for  respiration,  provided  there  was  nothing 
■which  could  exert  a deteriorating  effect  upon  the 
internal  chemical  processes,  as  does  carbonic  acid. 
He  therefore,  tried  the  effect  of  plunging  seeds 
in  mercury;  thus,  8 grains  of  ^ 
below  2'5  cm.  of  mercury  for  one  month  (Uctobci  IJ 
to  November  19).  Of  these  four  only  germinated. 
Of  5 grains  of  Wheat  under  i:>  cm.  of  merciirv, 
fr-om  November  27  to  December  28  four  grew.  Of 
5 grains  of  Wheat  under  5 cm.  of  inercury,  fioiii 
February  5 to  May  5,  all  grew,  bimilarly  L.  gra  ns 
of  Orcss^,  under  5 cm.  of  mercury,  for  two  months, 
*\'hi”''exim^^  therefore,  as  that  with  a low 
i.  qHows  that  seeds  can  exist  in  a state 
oT^^cmniplete’  vital  inertia ; and  that  the  internal 
cLSs  of  metabolism  can  be  arrested  as  long  as 
tJe  necessary  external  conditions  of  temperature, 
De  (SiidoUe  thinkrtliat  this  state  of  chemical 
j -Li  inPvHa  mav  last,  perhaps,  indefinitely.  He 
£:tvertlle^Sving^  hi  illustration  :-M. 
A P De  Candolle  mentions  a case  where  grains 
r A,'  Jpn«i+ive  plant  germinated  very  well  after 
of  ^ f ' gi^tv  years  repose  {r}n/siolo(;ie,  p.  621). 
upwards  of  ^y^ilaricot  Beans  germinating  which 
Giraidin  s herbarium  of  Tournefort,  where 
were  taken  trom  X century.  In  1850  Kobert  Brown 
they  had  am  iosit  collection 
of  Sir’H^ns  Sloane!  150  years  old  several  germinated 
* fL  evamnle  one  of  Nelumbium  speciosum,  of 
M t^e  ilant  is  still  preserved  in  the  Natural 
ffisSry  MuLuni.  He  refers  to  the  popular  notion 
2 ‘‘Mummy  Wheat”  having  germinated,  only  to 
k adding,  that  it  appears  that  the  grams  were 
refute  it,  ^ placed  in  the  tomb— but  he 
sterilised  of  this.  The  present  writer 
finds  the  ftarch  grains  to  be  perfectly  sound,  and 
f ^oimir  readily^ with  iodine;  so  that  the  grains 
of  St  least  have  been  boiled.  The  most  ex- 
^case  to  which  he  refers  was  observed  by 
P^oT  De  Heldreich  {(Uirten  Flora,  1873,  p 323),  the 
i fi-ie  13otaiiic  Garden  at  Athens.  In 
Director  ° mines  of  Laurium  he  discovered 
a^  newlpecter  Glaiicium,  G Serpieri.  It 
in  1873  a from  under  a thick  layer  of 
made  fg  which  he  w'ould  assign  a date  of 
volcanic  sco  , p ^ a reference  to  the 
1500  years.  HefCmrcu^ter, 
inyestigatio  precaution, 
f^^T  uIt  sS  from  ancient  forests  gave  rise  to 
found  fgg  only ; but  soil  from  recent  forests 
woodland  plains  and  fields,  according 
supplied  sp  replaced  these  respectively.  Ad- 
as the  foies  ha^  experiments  did  not  decide  the 
mitting  tha  fpiuks  it  would  bo  safe  to  allow 
question,  M-  ^ duration  of  arrest  of  vital 
UllivTtj  in  buries  h.  Ihe  eoil  of  fo.-e.t.,- 
Gardeners’  Chronicle.  
COMjMEKCIAL  ITBllES. 
-r-^  T\  A.Tnn'RTS  C.M.Ct.,  M.A.,  D.SC.,  I.L.S., 
of  the  Uoijal  Gardens,  Kew. 
Assistant-Dm^l^>^  and  uanaxa  Fimmo. 
TV!  Alfl  hemp  produced  by  JAsa  tcxtdis. 
Besides  ye  tibi2  useful  for  cordage  pur- 
Other  P;°aiid  for  making  coarse  paper.  The 
poses,  for  r jlfusa  sapimt inn , var. paradi ><nyaj , 
plantain, in-  ‘ glossy  fibre  at  the  rate  of  1'81  per 
produces  a | weight.  The  price  of  the  best 
cent,  of  the  g^^es  is,  howeyer,  seldoni  above 
plantain  and  bauau  n 
£12  per  ton,  a-"",  V •Lmand  for  white-rope  fibres, 
when  there  IS  a mg  fyi^nila  and  Sisal  hemps.  In 
and  a short  °iiL  of  consideration,  whether 
spite  of  this.  It  s wo  J g^g^^s  cut  down  every 
tbe  immense  (estimated  at  50,000,000) 
vear  in  fbe  West  lud  es  es  It  i,  evidently 
could  not  be  utilised  ^ with  first-class  rope 
coarse  paper,  as  a packing  material,  or  even  for  the 
manufacture  oi papier  mache.  The  Aliyssinian  banana, 
Musa  <ie(e.  yields  a somewhat  Vv'eak  and  du'l-lookiug 
fibre,  dliisa  Dajoo  s grown  in  Bouthern  Japan  for 
its  fibre,  which  is  woven  into  cloth  . f an  exceedingly 
durable  character.  Musa  sumatranii,  forming  a-n  im- 
pene  rable  jungle  in  the  Malay  Penii  snla  may  even- 
lu.illv  prove  a useful  fibre  plan.  A banana,  native 
of  'he  Bolomon  island^,  yields  fibre  which  is  woven 
into  ornamental  ganneii'.s,  bcu's,  and  sleeping  mats. 
< Pine-apple  Pibke. 
The  common  ihne-applo  (Ananas  saliva)  has  a 
rosette  of  30  to  50  narrow,  strapshaped  leaves,  from 
3 to  5 feet  long.  These  contain  an  abundance  of 
fibre  which,  though  somewhat  difficult  to  extract, 
is  possessed  of  great  merit.  It  is  liner  and  stronger 
than  that  yielded  hy  almo.T  any  other  phuit  except 
China  grass.  In  the  East  Indies  it  is  manufactured 
into  a beautiful  fabric  known  as  “piua”  cloth.  In 
the  Straits  Settlements,  Sifrra  Leone,  and  some 
other  localities  in  the  Old  World,  this  tropical 
American  plant  has  become  thoroughly  naturalised. 
The  leaves  in  these  semi-wild  plants  are  more  highly 
devoted  than  in  plants  cultivated  for  the  fruit,  and 
hence  are  better  suiled  for  fibre  purposes.  In  the 
Philippines  it  is  also  customary  to  pluck  the  fruit 
before  it  matures  ; this  is  .said  to  cause  a considerable 
extra  developement  of  the  leaves. 
Pine  appla  plants  are  grown  in  every  tropical  country 
and  their  cultural  treatmect  is  welt  known.  They 
are  easily  propagated  by  means  of  offsets  from  the 
base.  The  leaves  aie  fully  developed  in  about  12 
to  18  months,  and  each  p'ant  could  yield  at  least 
10  to  20  leaves  every  year.  P’or  piha  cloth  the  fibre 
is  extracted  by  scraping  by  hand,  then  washed  and 
laid  out  to  I loach  in  the  sun.  The  steeping,  wash- 
ing, and  drying  a-e  repealed  until  the  fibres  are 
cousidere  l to  bo  properly  bleached.  The  fibre  bundles 
are  very  fine,  transparent,  strong,  and  supple.  The 
ultimate  cells  are  from  2 to  5 mm.  long,  fine,  uniform 
in  diameter  1 hrough''ut,  solid  and  glossy. 
A sample  of  pine  apple  fibre  t f excellent  and 
extraordinary  length  (6  feet),  grown  at  Malacca,  was 
brought  to  this  country  by  Mr.  Derry  in  1893.  It 
was  stated,  in  the  ‘‘Kew  Bulletin,”  1893,  p.  368, 
‘ that  one  manufacturer  was  hopeful  of  using  1,000 
tons  a year  or  more  of  this  fibre  at  the  price  of 
£30  per  ton,  delivered  in  London.  “Pine-apple 
hemp”  is  a regular  artic.e  of  export  from  P’ormosa 
to  Swatow,  where  it  is  made  into  fine  “grass  cloth,” 
esteemed  for  its  coolness  as  a summer  wear. 
Cauachiata  Eiiiue. 
Garaguat.8  (llromelia  ariicntina). — The  best  fibre  of 
Paraguay  is  “ Garaguatii  ibera.  ” It  is  described  as 
long  and  silky.  There  is  fr.cjQent  mention  of  it  in 
works  of  travel,  and  fine  specimens  were  shown  in 
the  Paraguay  Court  at  the  Exposition  Universrlle, 
held  at  Paris  in  1889.  Specimens  of  the  plant,  abun- 
dant in  a wild  slate,  were  received  at  Kew  in  1890 
and  it  was  found  to  be  a new  species  of  llromeliacac 
allied  to  the  pine-apple,  which  it  resembles  both  in 
hab't  and  character  of  the  leaves.  In  a report  fur- 
nished to  the  Foreign-office  by  Mr.  Arthur  Herbert 
(No.  1,006,  1892),  it  is  stated  “ the  ibera  is  a sort 
of  caraguata',  and  its  fibre  is  of  a finer  (juality  than 
that  of  its  congener,  but  neither  of  them  has  obtained 
any  importance  in  commerce  owing  to  the  cost  of 
cleaning  and  separating  the  fibre  from  the  lea\es. 
Several  attempts  have  been  made  but  so  far  without 
any  great  success.  From  the  interest  that  has  been 
awakened  in  this  product  in  European  markets  it 
would  seem  to  deserve  a more  serious  study,  and 
the  r pinion  soems  to  pi-cvail  that  with  improved 
machinery  and  more  skilful  administiation  more 
profitable  results  might  be  obtained.”  Any  machi- 
nery that  could  successfully  extract  pine-apple  fibre 
could  also  clean  Lie  caraguata'  fibre.  It  is  anticipated 
by  those  acquainted  with  the  local  circumstances 
that  caraguata'  fibre  will  some  day  form  an  important 
article  of  export  from  Paraguay. 
OrniiR  Bhomelia  Fuikes. 
According  to  the  “ Kew  Bulletin,  ” 1887.  April, 
p.  8:_- 
There  are  several  samples  of  a wild  pine-apple 
( iSronidia  s^lvestris,  M’illd.)  from  the  SVest  Indies 
