4 
condition is secured. Equally will they 
fail if planted on limestone (as 
mentioned in my paper on the 
Gulf of Paria already quoted). You will 
see at the Bocas Islands coconut palms 
growing in the little bays where there is an 
accumulation of a certain quantity of gravel 
and in some of the more favourable spots a 
few trees may ripen their fruit. But as a 
rule even those trees that bear fruit never 
ripen it and in any case wherever the roots 
come into contact with the limestone, the 
palms die. Any person may notice the scar¬ 
city, if not absolute absence of palms, on all 
these limestone islands except in the few 
spots where gravel or sand occurs. When 
palms are planted on the limestone 01 in 
swampy places, as is often done, they grow to 
a certain height, greater or less, and then 
gradually dwindle away. And this dying- 
away of the palms, coconut or other, on lime¬ 
stone or in swamps or under other unsuitable 
conditions is called “ Bud Disease.” And 
this, though caused by unsuitable soil and 
conditions, is attributed to the action of 
caterpillars or fungi or other parasites or 
saprophytes. It is the case, however, that 
the enfeebled plant is speedily attacked by 
such organisms which finish the ruin begun 
by adverse conditions. Botany is a subject 
which everyone ought to cultivate and if 
our systems of education were sound some 
elementary knowledge of plants would not 
he beyond the abilities of the milkmaid and 
the ploughboy. I shall say more on this 
subject just now, but here I am going to con 
fine myself to what is immediately before us. 
Close by the station where we alight from 
the railway train are some plants of cotton 
with ripe pods. It is evident that the cotton 
plant takes kindly to this soil although it is of 
a poor quality. Many of the smaller land 
holders have on their holdings portions of land 
w hich might be utilised for cotton culture 
and the picking and cleaning of the product 
could easily' be done by the peasant in his 
leisure time. A model of a very efficient 
small gin such as could be made by any bush 
carpenter was presented to the musem, but 
as it was not interesting to the ruling classes 
it was hidden aw r ay or destroyed as every¬ 
thing for the real benefit of the people is in 
Trinidad. Here you will pardon me a slight 
digression relative to the word “ Gin ” which 
is a im re modification of the word “ En¬ 
gine ” and illustrates a common phenomenon 
in the growth and origin of words and 
language. The cotton plant is a mallow and 
the order of which it is ft member is usually 
