198 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
•Sept,  i,  1896. 
of  the  eajuput  tree,  remarkable  for  the  peculiar 
structure  of  its  bark.  It  is  not  unlike  that  of 
birch  externally,  sometimes  an  incii  thick,  but 
formed  of  layer  upon  layer  of  easily-scpaiable 
papery-lookin"  tissue. 
The  pride  and  glory  of  the  gartlen  is  the  w(»i  Id- 
famous  banyan  tree  {Ficus  heuqalensis).  It  re- 
sembles a small  forest  rather  than  a single  tree, 
and  throws  an  area  of  1,000  feet  in  circum- 
ference into  dark,  cool  shade,  a “cloistered 
labyrinth,”  richly  garlanded  with  creepers  and 
orciiids,  planted,  .as  was  the  banyan  itself  by 
the  birds.  Milton’s  picture  of  the  “ fig  tree, 
not  that  kind  for  fruit  renown’d,”  is  realistic; — 
Branching  so  broad  and  long  that  in  the  ground 
The  bended  twigs  take  root,  and  daughters  grow 
About  the  mother  tree,  a pillar’d  shade, 
The  three  splendid  conservatories  have  not  .an 
inch  of  glass  in  them,  but  are  constructed  of  a 
framework  of  iron  covered  with  wire  netting, 
on  which  is  stretched  a thin  layer  of  thatchlng- 
giass,  while  leafy  creepers  are  trained  round  the 
sides— a system  which  has  proved  completely 
successful  in  the  cultiv.ation  of  many  tropica',  .-pecies 
that  would  otherwise  perish  in  a climate  that 
can  vary  from  between  40deg  to  llOdeg.  F.  in 
the  shade,  cu.Huring,  as  it  does,  a fairly  equable 
temperature,  access  of  rain  ancl  a gentle  broken 
shaue  from  the  relentless  sun.  In  the  largest, 
known  as  the  “Orchid  House,”  200  feet  long, 
the  royal  family  of  plants  makes  quite  an  im- 
posing show  each  year,  in  the  month  of  March 
when  all  Calcutta  and  his  wife  go  to  see  them. 
In  this  house  may  be  seen  line  growing  speci- 
mens of  vanilla,  which  has  to  be  fertilised  arti- 
ficially, and  of  s.arsapaiilla,  a pretty  creeper. 
The  Palm  House  is  built  on  the  same  principle 
and  is  devoted  to  such  species  of  equatorial 
palms  as  do  not  take  kindly  to  life  out  of 
doors,  and  here  again  is  a wise  departure  from 
the  usual  order  of  things  for  every  plant  is  esta- 
blished in  the  ground— an  obvious  improvement 
over  the  plan  of  growing  them  in  tubs.  The  Her- 
barium building,  which  embraces  the  Library 
and  the  L.aboratory,  is  built  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple as  that  of  Kew,  with  the  .addition.al 
feature  that  it  is  fireproof.  Its  hortus  siccus  is 
one  of  the  most  complete  in  existence,  and  in- 
cludes, besides  the  flora  of  the  Indian  Empire 
and  that  of  Asia  outside  India,  a fair  collec- 
tion repre.sentative  of  Europe  and  of  Australia, 
and  in  a less  degree  of  Africa  and  Americ.a.  No 
other  herbarium  in  the  world,  Kew  not  excepted, 
has  an  equal  record  for  distribution,  .so  lavish 
in  the  early  years  that  this  herbarium  does 
not  possess  a single  specimen  of  the  priceless 
collections  of  Roxburgh,  although  there  are  a 
few  at  Edinburgh  and  elsewhere.  Distributions 
are  now  made  each  year  to  thirty-eight  of  the 
principal  botanical  establishments  and  notable 
herbaria  of  the  world. 
And  now  a word  about  the  eminent  custodian 
of  this  great  treasure-house  of  botany.  Brigade- 
Surgeon  Lieut. -Col.  George  King,  C.l-E.,  F.R.S., 
the  greatest  botanist  in  all  Asia,  has,  during 
the  twenty-five  years  of  his  incumbency  of  the 
superintendentsliip  of  the  garden,  immensely  in- 
creased the  iilant-wealtli  under  his  care,  and 
maintained  and  enhanced  the  re))utatiou  of  the 
establishment  as  an  important  centre  of  botani- 
cal industry.  During  tliose  ye.ars  has  been 
growing  slowly  and  silently  uiuler  Ids  c.are,  and 
authorship  for  the  most  part,  the  “ Annals  of 
the  Royal  Botanic  Gardens,  Calcutta,”  st.ately 
tomes,  in  quarto,  monographs,  chiefly  of  specially 
diflicult  Indian  natural  orders,  every  line  of 
which  represents  hours,  d.ays,  of  patient  research, 
authoritative  contributions  to  botanical  literature. 
The  pdates  illustrating  each  individual  specimen 
enumerated  in  these  volumes  are  drasvn  from 
life,  lithographed,  and  coloured  by  h.and  by 
Bengali  <irt-students  %vith  a devotion  and  a pre- 
cision which  is  marvellous  to  those  unacquainted 
with  tlie  faculty  of  imit.ativeness  innate  to  the 
educated  native  of  Beng.al.  The  latest  of  these 
volumes — the  seventli — has  just  been  published 
by  the  Government  of  Indi.a.  It  treats  of  the 
JkiinOuste— the  bamboos  of  British  India.  But 
what  has  won  for  Dr.  King  the  title  of  one 
of  India’s  benef.actors  has  been  the  phenomenal 
success  of  tlie  cinchona-plantations  in  Briti.sh 
Sikkim,  for  which  he  has  been  in  gre.at  me.asures 
respon.sible.  Their  .administration  is  still  ]>art  of 
his  duties.  The  Government  of  India  has  not 
only  adojited  his  recommendations,  but  has 
carried  them  out  with  a liberality  that  has 
been  comjiletely  justified  by  results.  Figures 
are  tedious,  Imt  it  is  sullicient  to  s.ay  that  the 
considerable  initial  outlay  incurred  in  the  under- 
taking has  been  rejiaid  several  times  over,  while 
something  like  40,UU0/.  a year  h.as  been  s.aved 
to  Indi.a  by  the  substitutionofeountrymade  quinine 
and  “ Government  cinchona  febrifuge,”  an  un- 
purilied  “(luinetum,”  for  the  imported  articles, 
while  the  uistribution  of  quinine  in  unheard-of 
numbers  of  5-gr.  doses,  which  may  be  purchased  by 
the  very  poorest  for  about  half  a farthing,  is 
as  great  a boon  as  has  ever  been  conferred  on 
India’s  malaria-soaked  millions. — Chemist  and 
Druf/gist,  July  25. 
Riie.a  Profits.— In  discussing  the  financial  as- 
pect of  rhea  cultivation  Capital  argues  that  with 
.anything  but  first-class  soil  the  outturn  Avould 
not  exceed  ten  maunds  which  would  not  pay  at 
all.  The  price  which  was  re.aliscd  for  Assam 
rhea  (dried  ribbons)  in  small  quantities  was  £16 
per  ton  which  paid  a fair  dividend.  Reducing 
this  to  ru])ees,  the  price  works  out  a fivaction 
over  119  per  maund.  But  we  see  it  stated,  says 
the  Pioneer,  that  a Mr.  Frederick  Pineott  has 
contracted  to  supply  15,000  tons  of  rhea  ribbon 
at  £7  per  ton,  or  as  it  is  put  there,  in  rupee.s, 
IIBIO  F.D.B.,  and  we  .scarcely  see  how  this  c.an 
pay,  as  freight,  insurance,  &c.,  to  export  ports 
will  make  a big  hole  in  it  alone;  R130  per  ton 
works  out  R4-10  per  maund,  and,  by  the  cal- 
culation made  .above,  our  readers  will  notice  that 
119  only  gave  a fair  dividend  ; so  the  rate  of 
R4-10  per  maund  from  Assam  would  never  cover. 
The  steamer  freight  comes  to  R2  ))cr  maund, 
including  boating  to  the  shipping  mookh,  leaving 
R2-10  for  cultivation,  cutting,  and  c.arrying,  .and 
pressing.  Doubtless,  with  a good  press,  the  freight 
might  be  considerably  lowered,  if  the  Inland 
Rivers  Company  could  be  got  to  go  by  measure- 
ment, but  then  these  surmises  are  not  safe  to 
calculate  upon,  and  all  our  figures  are  b.ased  on 
actuals.  Supposing  one  could  get,  s.ay  11180  per 
acre  for  the  iiroduce,  the  result  would  not  be  by 
any  means  to  be  despised,  but  if  this  figure  is 
reduced  by  about  half,  it  does  not  re.ad  much. 
To  cut,  strip,  and  carry  a maund  costs  about 
Rl-8  to  R2  ol  the  dried  ribbons,  and  when  to  this 
is  added  inland  frcigiit  we  fail  to  see  where  the 
profit  comes  in.  ’I’is  true  th.at  by  the  Goimss 
system  there  is  a saving  of  30  per  cent  in  weight, 
.so  that  we  .have  to  add  this  on  to  profits,  or  de- 
duct it  from  the  .above  working  exiienses,  but, 
even  with  all  that,  we  fail  to  see  where  the  jirofits 
can  be  made,  and  when  we  say  profit,  we  mean 
a decent  jirofit,  such  as  all  agricultural  follow- 
ings should  give,  i.c.,  an  average  of  lU  per  cent 
over  a series  of  years. 
