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Chinese Ropes.-Perhaps one of the most striking features of the collections of Chinese vegetable product sent to the Imperial Institute was the number of different plants which are made up into ropes. The specimens sent were as follows: four specimens of ropes from Foochow, made from mat grass (Cyperus tegetiformis) from " to 12" in diameter a specimen of rope made from split palm-leaf stalks (Livistona chinensis) from Sun Wui: specimens of 3 & 4-strand coir rope (Trachycarpus excelsus) from " to 4" in diameter from Foochow. The so called Hemp-skin ropes are made from the rough bark or skin of Corchorus capsularis, wong ma ropes from the prepared bast of the same plant. Bamboo ropes were exemplified by 7 examples varying from" to 4" in diameter: they are made from narrow strips of split bamboo plaited singly or in pairs in the finest ropes, but in the commoner sorts twisted in 2 or 3 strands. Besides these species large lianes, the long hanging stems of local climbing plants, such as Derris, are used for the cables of junks, while for temporary agricultural purposes numerous other tough and pliable stems are ingeniously utilized.
Livistona chinensis.-The Fan Palm. This is one of the most useful plants in South China and, although as its name implies, it is chiefly known as the source of palm-leaf fans there are numerous other uses quite as important or even more so than this. Mr. HELMS of Messrs. ARNOLD, KARBERG & Co., whose knowledge of the industries of the Can- ton Delta is probably unrivalled, most kindly placed at my disposal, for the purpose of the Imperial Institute collections, a series of photographs, notes and specimens, obtained during his visits to Sun Wui. The different parts of the tree are used as follows: the best leaves are made into fans, the waste leaves into rain coats and matshed covers, the edges of the leaf- ribs are pared off and made into brushes, the leaf stalks are peeled and the core cut into thin strips for rope-making, while the skin is used as a substitute for split rattan: the fibrous leaf sheaths are made into brooms.
Kanghau Nursery.-In consequence of the Kowloon-Canton Railway works at the North face of the tunnel it has been necessary to abandon a large part of the experimental nursery and transplant such stock as could be moved to a safe distance. The old matshed was, for the same reason, transferred to the Railway Department, while a new one was constructed further to the West. The new experiment ground was enclosed in a barbed wire fence. The experimental plots of Aleurites cordata (Wood oil), Camellia Sasanqua (Tea oil), Agare sisalana (Sisal Hemp), Furerea gigantea (Mauritius Hemp), and Crotalaria juncea (Sunn Hemp), have made satisfactory progress.
Castle Peak Estate.-The manager of this estate informs me that the developement of the fruit farm has made good progress during the year, while a profitable business has been done in vegetables and sugar cane. Figs, Peaches, Oranges, Apricots, Lemons, Grapes, Passion Fruit and Avocado Pears were produced of good quality but, as yet, in small quantity. The vegetables are much the same as reported in 1903. An experiment with nitroculture on green peas gave this important result, that some sugar canes between rows of which they were planted benefited greatly from their proximity and yielded a higher percentage of sugar. No doubt the nitrogen, brought into the ground by the nitroculture bacteria, was assimilated by the canes. The latter could not benefit directly from inoculation which only affects leguminous crops, but in this way canes or any other non-leguminous crop can be benefited,
LIBRARY.
The following periodicals and other works have been purchased :-
Botanical Magazine, 1906.
Botanisches Centralblatt, 1906.
Christensen, Index Filicum.
Engler Pflanzenreich, 5 parts.
Gardeners' Chronicle, 1906.
Index Kewensis, Supplement 1, part IV.
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2, 2 parts.