Aug, 2, 1897,] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 105 
THE TRINIDAD BOTANIC GARDENS. 
We have before us the Report for last year on 
the Royal Botanic Gardens of Trinidad by their 
accomplished Superintendent Mr. J. H. Hart ; 
and it may be useful to touch on some ot its 
main features, in connection with the Adminis- 
tration Report on our own Botanic Gardens from 
the pen of the new Director, which we recently 
noticed. The interesting West Indian Island is, 
of course, a much smaller charge than Ceylon, 
covering as it does only over 2,000 square miles 
against our 24,000 ; but the metereological con- 
ditions, so far as mean temperature goes, are 
much alike — the island being situated between 
10 and 11 degrees North Latitude and 61 and 
62 West Longitude, against 5 and 10 degrees in 
our own case, and 80 and 82 East Longitude. 
There, January is described as tlie coolest month, 
Febuary the driest. May the hottest (as has been 
our experience this year), June the wettest, and 
August the moistest. Its rainfall, however, does 
not show the great divergence which is seen in Cey- 
lon with Padupola claiming nearly 230 inches, while 
Maruchikadu has to he content with le.ss than 23 ; 
for we find that the highest fall for the year was 
in Saugre Grande which had 154 inches, and the 
lowest Moruga Police Station with less than 40 
inches. The average for the whole island is 81 ’52. 
We learn that the work of the Herbarium has 
made steady progress during the year, the col- 
lection of specimens of the Island Flora being 
made gradually more complete ; while the whole 
of the indigenous plants have now' been separated 
from those which are known to have been in- 
troduced from other countries. The very interest- 
ing re-discovery is chronicled of the Sacoc/lottis ama- 
zonica, as a result of a special expedition into 
the Trois district : and the importance of it is 
enhanced in that it has definitely decided the 
source of one of the drift fruits ” discussed in 
the reports of the “ Challenger Expedition.” 
Another “ find ” illustrates the difficulties at- 
tendant on accurate botanical research. For 
years Botanists have desired definite information 
in regard to the tree locally known as the 
“ Coutrevent,” and nine years have elapsed since 
Mr. Hart’s Department commenced the investi- 
gation ; but the distance to the habitat 
of the trees, the short period of flowering, 
and the height of the great forest trees, opposed 
such difficulties in the way of obtaining good 
specimens that the result has been only one fairly 
good single sheet of Botanical specimens. By the 
aid of this sheet, however, the Director of the Royal 
Gardens at Kew has been able to determine, 
that the locally well-known tree is an undes- 
cribed species of the order Sapotacece, and not a 
Lucuma multiflora. Under the same heading 
we find a paragraph on the destructiveness of 
fungi, even where hard- woods are concerned, 
which we reproduce for the information and 
guidance of agriculturists and builders alike: — 
Pohjstictws banc/uiness, L., a finely coloured fungus, 
was found destroying hardwood gate-posts in one of 
the pastures ; posts that had only been in the ground 
a few months being entirely destroyed. Prom this 
and other observed instances it appears evident that 
the knowledge of the destructive nature both of 
Saprophytic as well as Parasitic fungi, has not as 
yet been put to such practical use as it might be. 
Perhaps the fact that people who have not had [them 
under close observation and study can hardly realize 
that such apparently (to them) insignificant organisms 
should do so much harm. We constantly see builders, 
carpenters &c., laboriously tarring or painting and 
even charring'.the ends of posts, the sills of houses, 
and the flooring of bridges, &c., &c., when the work 
is often absolutely worse than useless ; for the germs 
of decay in the form of the mycelium of a fungus 
have already permeated the woody tissue, so that 
all they do in many cases is to seal up in the in- 
terior of the wood, and in a suitable place for its 
growth, the vegetative and moat destructive part of 
a Saprophytic fungus. The indications of the action 
of these minute vegetable organisms is much more 
pronounced in a tropical, than in a temperate climate • 
the destructive action is much quicker, there is far 
better opportunity for observation, and the damage 
is more quickly apparent. Modern Science shows 
however, that the only means of properly treating or 
preserving timber is first to sterilize it by heatf to 
thoroughly dry it, and afterwards to use outside pre- 
servatives in the form of paiut, tar, or charred sur- 
faces, &c., &c.. Creosote is often used to preserve 
timber, but unless the operation is performed excep- 
tionally well, “Creosoted” timber fallf a prey to 
“dry rot,” otherwise fungus, almost as readily as 
any other, especially in the Tropics. Applications of 
preservatives should always be made under pressure, 
and with sufficient heat to destroy the growing parts 
of these destructive fungi. 
Among the work undertaken by the Department 
was the revision of a pamphlet' inteiuleci for the 
guidance of emigrants from the United King- 
dom ; and it is imped that the correct informa- 
tion supplied will have the effect of attracting 
capitalists seeking investment in the Tropie.s” 
Government House being situated within the 
bounds of the Gardens, the Department has not 
disdaned attention to flowers, and has even en- 
gaged in decorative work by furnishing plants 
for ball-rooms and places of public and private 
entertainment. We are in advance of that here; 
but we are not sure that the number and enter- 
prise of Florists and Nurserymen in our midst, 
adequate as they are to render the interven- 
tion of the Botanical Department unnecessary 
for decorative work, are sufficient to relieve tlie 
Botanical Gardens of the task of cultivating 
flower and foliage plants for sale to visitors? 
We know that successive Directors have ex]uessed 
impatience with this branch of their charge ; 
but does it not serve a purpose in renderin-'- the 
BotanicGardensbright and attractive, andespeaally 
in training Gardeners for better work— apart from 
the help it gives in propagating specimens not 
easily obtained elsewhere, and not so readily 
within reach of all classes ? The Trinidad 
Gardens, while helpful to local ])lant fanciers, 
have not been neglectful of foreign e.xchan<'e 
and distribution, as the statistical tables show. 
The Department keeps in its hands the issue of a 
quarterly Bulletin of about 25 pages, neatly and at- 
tractively got up, which must be of liel]> and interest 
to the planting and agricultural as to tlie general 
public. Here the Tropical Agriculturist, and to 
some extent the daily Press, have hitherto ob- 
viated the necessity for such a compilation 
pending the publication of the Annual Reports’. 
. From the notes on the Economic Section, 
we learn that an e.xperimenlal jilot has been 
established in the Gardens for raising and test- 
ing seedling cane.s— sugar being the main staple 
of the island. The culture of 41 \ arieties was 
commenced duiing the year, and 86 examina- 
tions were made to test tlie quality of the 
canes, in regard to the comstitncnis which 
give them value. One of the facts ascertained 
by experiment is that the canes did not reach 
their maximum yield until nearly the end of 
the crop season which, curiously is in May, el- 
even after, whereas in British Oniana which is 
not tar off the season closes as eaily a.s De- 
cember ! During the year as many a.s 7971 seedlin»- 
canes of the best of the new varieties were distru 
