Occasional Notes. 135 
alists to at least begin experiments with this palm — ■ 
although no immediate returns could be expected. The 
diminution of expense in the cultivation of the palm as 
against sugar cane, would be due not only to the saving 
in manure and in the cost of ; cultivation, (as pointed out 
by WALLACE,) but also in the fa6l that elaborate and 
costly machinery would, to a great extent, be done away 
with : — 
The sap which pours out of the cut flower-stalk of several species 
of palm when slightly fermented forms palm-wine or toddy, a very 
agreeable drink; and when mixed with various bitter herbs or roots 
which check fermentation, a fair imitation of beer is produced. If the 
same fluid is at once boiled and evaporated it produces a quantity of 
excellent sugar. The Arenga Saccharifera, or sugar-palm of the Malay 
countries, is perhaps the most productive of sugar. A single tree will 
continue to pour out several quarts of sap daily for weeks together, and 
where the trees are abundant this forms the chief drink and most es- 
teemed luxury of the natives. A Dutch chemist, Mr. DeVry, who has 
studied the subject in Java, believes that great advantages would accrue 
from the cultivation of this tree in place of the sugar-cane. According 
to his experiments it would produce an equal quantity of sugar of 
good quality with far less labour and expense, because no manure 
and no cultivation would be required, and the land will never 
be impoverished as it so rapidly becomes by the growth of sugar- 
cane. The reason of this difference is that the whole produce 
of a cane-field is taken off the ground, the crushed canes being 
burnt ; and the soil thus becomes exhausted of the various salts 
and minerals which form part of the woody fibre and foliage. These 
must be restored by the application of manure, and this, together with 
the planting, weeding, and necessary cultivation, is very expensive. 
With the sugar-palm, however, nothing whatever is taken away but 
the juice itself; the foliage falls on the ground and rots, giving back to 
it what it had taken ; and the water and sugar in the juice being almost 
wholly derived from the carbonic acid and aqueous vapour of the 
atmosphere, there is no impoverishment ; and a plantation of these palms 
may be kept up on the same ground for an indefinite period. Another 
most important consideration is, that these trees will grow on poor rocky 
soil and on the steep slopes of ravines and hill sides where any ordinary 
