again depends on the soil and position in which it is grown. Fur- 
ther experiments are being made on this point. 
A tree nine years old was tapped, April 20th. It was about 
forty feet tall and a foot through at the base. Cuts were made 
in it, the edges of which were sliced again every day for a week. 
The first cut yielded half a pound, and the whole result gave one 
pound fourteen ounces. Now (June 17), the wounds are partly 
eallused over and the callus already contains rubber. 
Price . — Para rubber seems always to command the highest 
price of any rubber in the market, fetching from half a crown to 
three and sevenpence a pound under ordinary circumstances. 
Samples sent from the trees in the Botanic Gardens to a well- 
known firm of rubber dealers were valued at the highest price 
then given for rubber. But, with the increased demand and 
failing supply, even higher prices may be obtained. 
When one considers the little expense of planting, tapping and 
preparing the rubber, it seems clear that, though the amount 
given by each tree is not large, there should be a large profit made 
on the cultivation. One may safely say that the cultivation of 
rubber is at present in its infancy and may reckon that, as its 
study progresses, we shall obtain much larger results than these, 
which, I think, I have estimated at a considerably lower valua- 
tion than they will be found to bear. 
BAMIE. 
There is so much interest taken now in ramie that some notes 
on it may be acceptable to cultivators. The demand for the 
plant, which has been long neglected here, has been so great 
lately that it has been very difficult to provide an adequate sup- 
ply, and ramie promises to be one of the most important cultures 
in the near future. Hitherto, the difficulty has been to extract 
the fibre in a satisfactory state, that is to say^ clean and strong 
and economically. Numbers of machines and processes have 
been invented, and most of these have been but partial successes 
at most. Lately inventors have again turned their attention to 
the plant and with, it is alleged, perfect success. But while for 
some time the interest in the plant had died down, the fibre was 
still to be found in the market in considerable quantity, and has 
for a long time now been extensively used in making fabric, 
adulterating silk, rope-making, and in various ways. Most of 
this fibre has hitherto come from China, where it appears to be 
extensively grown, and where one variety is probably native. 
There are two forms, or varieties, of ramie, viz., Bcehmeria 
nivea , Hook. & Arn., Ramie proper, or China grass, and the 
variety tenacissima, commonly known as Rhea grass. 
The former is a shrub attaining sometimes the height of eight 
feet, but usually smaller. It has the appearance of a nettle, to 
which plant it is alhed, belonging as it does to the same order, 
viz., Uriicacece. The leaves are ovate and notched round the 
edge on fairly long leaf stalks, green above but white beneath. 
The flowers are very small and borne on long hanging racemes 
