1578 
of 11 tons per acre; pig-potatoes, 1.87 tons: total, 
12.87 tons. The cooking test made on February 6, by 
boiling, showed that the potatoes kept their color 
twenty- four hours, but they could not be classed as 
good cookers. The starch content is believed to be 
high. About the same date one root was lifted, and the 
tubers were put into running stream water. In less than 
a month the whole of the tubers had rotted. 1 
"Despite the negative result recorded in the last 
part of this report, the circumstances surrounding the 
growth of the tubers in the Rangitalki spring may In- 
dicate, If only slightly, a possible reversion of this 
long-domesticated plant to an ancestral habit." (New 
Zealand Journal of Agriculture, vol. 15, p. 209.) 
Notes from Correspondents. 
In a letter dated May 1, 1920, Mr. Charles T. 
Simpson, Llttleriver, Fla. , writes: 
"I have In my grounds a single specimen of an 
Aerocomia which I received from the Royal Palm Nurseries 
some seven or eight years ago with the name Aerocomia 
totai The plant was not In very thrifty condition but 
was duly planted in the pine land near my house. My 
experience with the Acrocomlas is that when young they 
are slow growers but that as soon as they begin to 
really form a trunk they push up with astonishing ra- 
pidity. This specimen scarcely grew until about two 
years ago when it began to put on healthy, vigorous 
growth and Is now over 7 feet high, with a trunk di- 
ameter at the ground of 9 Inches. During this time it 
has had very little cultivation and no fertilizer ex- 
cept a small amount of seaweed put around it as a 
mulch. It has never been watered except when it was 
planted. 
"I have two other so-called species of Aerocomia 
in my grounds, A. media, which I raised from seed brought 
from Porto Rico, and a plant named A, seleroearpa from 
the Royal Palm Nurseries. Five seeds of the former 
were sent to me from the Department of Agriculture, 
perhaps eight years ago. As they were very hard I tried 
the experiment of cracking two of them with a hammer, 
one of which I slightly Injured; the other came up 
shortly and after some four or more years of slow growth 
is now pushing ahead at a tremendous rate. Measuring in 
the bases of the leaves, it is about 2 feet in diam- 
eter at the ground, and nearly 26 feet high. It is 
the fastest-growing palm I have . The other 3 seeds were 
