2 
5. A coarse weed introduced from India in 1012 (Asystasia Coromandeliana) has spread 
all over the neighbourhood of the Botanic Station within a radius of 2 to 3 miles. It grows 
under dense shade as well as in the open and it is now the only fodder grass obtainable during 
the di’y season. For this reason it is a precious addition to our fodder plants which are very 
limited in number. The trailing habit of this variety of Asystasia may prove a little object¬ 
ionable ill vanilleries but in coconut groves it is worth being propagated and used as a green 
manure in localities where the poor quality of the soil hinders the growth of leguminous 
plants. 
6. Last year 1 recommended the culture of Pahnyrah palms in the waste lands of Sey¬ 
chelles. 'Ihe results hitherto obtained with another introduced palm (palm oil Floeis Guineen- 
sis) ivarrant its beitig also cultivated to a large extent, as already recommended' in 1912. 
This palm, which pro luces several articles of commerce such as palm oil and palm kernels, has 
found in Seychelles the very soil and climate which it requires. This is no wonder as palms 
form 75 o/o of the jungle trees on the hills. This year a bunch weighing 48 lbs was obtained 
from a tree growing in rock}^ ground at the Botanic Station. The number of fruits on the 
bunch was as much as 2392 and each fruit was fully developed and perfectly ripe. A bunch of 
this size yields as much oil as 2-5 coconuts. This bunch hardly projected from the axils of the 
subtending leaf and there was no a^jparent sign of such an enoimous crop of fruits for a per¬ 
son stanling under the tree. The fruits are so good to eat that all the employees and labourers 
of the Botanic Station are very fond of them, besides the Ashanti political prisoners who are 
regular visitors to the garden in search of a new cluster. Plants of the soft shelled variety 
introduced from ITigeria were set out in January 1915 and in January 1917 not only male 
flowers but also small bunches of fruits were produced, i'h other hard shelled variety which 
produces occasionally the enormous clusters mentioned above is not so precocious although 
plants 2.i years of age, were seen this year producing fruits. I do not know if such results 
are obtained in other colonies but in the literature on the subject at least 5 years are mention- 
eil as the period cf time required by the plant to come into bearing. It is to be hoped that 
an enterprising plaiitei- will set out a large plantation as soon as possible. ISTumerous small 
plots have been planted out on the Crown Lands. In West Africa where this palm is indi¬ 
genous it is considered quite as productive as the coconut palm, if not more. There is not the 
least idea in my mind to recommend it as a substitute for the coconut palm in Seychelles. But 
cho latter palm is so much hamdicapped by diseases that it is surely worth while to grow side by 
.side witli iv, as an adjunct, another palm nearly allied to it and quite as productive, on soils not 
alr'Cadj" Occupied by the former. As all the coprah of this Colony is exported there is little 
left in the way of oil cake residues (poonac) for poultry feeding. Palm oil would be insti’u- 
mental in supplying such a b^-product as the oil will have to be extracted locally, and it would 
besides produce a fruit of no small dietetic value for the poorer inhabitants. 
7. Among' striking ornamental plants mention has to be made of TTeeria macrostachis, 
Melaleuca lencodendron, Galphimia glauca, white Legerstroemia, Klenhovia hospita which 
flowered for the first time this year. 
CHAPTER III. 
HISTEIBHTIOH OF INFORMATION ON AGRICULTURAL MATTERS. 
Early in the year (February) I was directed to visit the Aldabra Group of islands and 
report on their resources for the benefit of a Company which had applied for a transfer to 
them of the lease of these dependencies. The trip lasted 4^ months. On the return voyage 
a visit was also made at Astove Island which was to remain in the hands of the.former lessees. 
I was much struck by the important guano deposits still existing at Assumption which 
may be reckoned at 100,000 tons. This guano is very rich in phosphates, averaging 63 o/o. 
At Astove very important deposits were also found amounting to 60,000 tons but the com¬ 
position, of this guano has not yet been definitely worked out.. At Aldabra the deposits are 
much poorer although they are 10 times more important. The latter island is over 40,000 
acres in extent and is of more ancient formation than Assumption and Astove, a lagoon in this 
case, having been formed inside the atoll after elevation while* at Assumption, there is no lagoon 
yet and at Astove the lagoon was formed before elevation. The consequence is that Aldabra is 
now merftly a rim of'land which is gradually disappearing by erosion- from the lagoon side; 
The guano deposits which exist there are not as rich as at Assumption or Astove not only be¬ 
cause, it is impossible to imagine a flock of seabirds large enough to accumulate guano on 
4(1,000 acres of land as easily as, on a few hundred acres (Assumption and Astove) but also, 
owing to the fact that the level of the land, especially on the lagoon side, has been reduced by 
weather erosion practically to sea level at, high tide. The numerous pits which once existed^ 
have-been filled in by metamorphosed coral and their contents washed'out into the lagoon. At. 
Assumption the pits are much deeper, the land being higher andThe-surface water is easily 
disdiarged into the sea a few ya,rds away while,, at Aldabra, the surface water collects.* in 
marshes and pools, ^several acres in extent, in which the elements oUthe guano is completely 
leached out from the deposits. These pools and marshes do not always dry up in the dry season 
as many fregh'iwater fishes, and Crustaceans are found in them.. THe edges oLthese marshes as 
well as the other depressions of the ground form, in some parts, of ■'Aldabra miniattire forests 
and meadows which'-are in strildng contrast with'the scrubby vegetation-found elsewhere. 
Although I left Aldabra towards the middle of the dry season (Jhne) these marshes were still, 
full of water and the vegetation still luxuriant. I cannot imagine a soil which is'richer than 
these remains of the guano deposits containing about 20o/o phosphates in which an extraordi¬ 
nary amount of organic matter derived from terrestial and aquatic plants have accumulated to 
