- JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATVUAL &TSTORY SOCIETY, 1890. 



principally remarkable, and the peculiar circumstances under wh 

 they have been formed and are kept up. All this is ^ell-trodden 

 ground for most of the Bombay inhabitants, who, I hope, will forgive 

 me in dealing with the subject in a way more calculated to be of 

 interest for those to whom Bombay gardens are not yet an object of 

 daily enjoyment, than for those who are already familiar with their 

 advantages and defects. Every European arriving in this country 

 brings with him the memory of the perfection which the love of 

 plants and vegetation has caused our gardens at home to attain, and 

 with the natural and human constant desire for, and belief in, some- 

 thing better, he carries with him illusions of the beauty, glory, and 

 wealth ol the tropical vegetation in which he often believes to find 

 a paradise on earth. He may be, and generally is, disappointed, 

 or rarely, the luxuriance of the vegetation may appear to him even 

 greater than anticipated, so much depends on the season at which 

 he arrives, or on the locality in which he settles down. In one 

 respect, however, he is always sure to be disappointed — in the 

 expectation of a wealth of flowers. This question has been so excel- 

 lently dealt with by the distinguished writer and traveller, A. B. 

 Wallace, in that delightful book, " The Malay Archipelago," 

 and other writings, that I shall not tire my audience by a mere 

 repetition, though I may remark that this observation principally 

 refers to the indigenous flora. Gardening, however, here comes 

 to our resource; and by the introduction of numerous exotic 

 plants, chiefly inhabitants of tropical America and Madagascar, 

 it has been made possible to ensure a constant supply of flowering 

 plants in Bombay ; and with care it is feasible to grow a great many 

 plants, whose flowers are old friends from home. It is only human 

 and natural that our impressions from childhood and youth should 

 be so strong, that we will always retain a preference for those objects 

 whieh in those happy periods of life have fixed themselves in our 

 memory ; and so it is with flowers. Even if we later on in life meet 

 wi! 1 most gorgeous or splendid floral beauties, we cannot help 



ndmiring ihcm ; but still the memory ol our homely flowers, which 

 is often associated with thoughts of the dearest and happiest events 

 urlil'e, will always overshadow the splendour of even the most 

 dazzling flowers we come across. We will constantly miss the 



