SOME JBOTAXIC OAKDEXS A?5KOAD. MM 



the former are found to lose water from three to ten times as fast 

 as the latter. Even with both kinds of leaves placed in the sun 

 or shade the sun leaves lose more water than the shade leaves. 

 Some reasons for the greater vaporizing power of leaves grown in 

 the sun seem to be that they spring from stouter twigs, are fed 

 by stouter petioles, have a more fully developed set of veins and 

 contain more inferior evaporating surface perunit of leaf surfaces. 



The extremely incomplete studies which the writer has been 

 able to make of some of the physiologieo-ecological relations of 

 this interesting flora lead him to conclude tliat it would amply 

 repay further investigation. 



Cambridge, ]\[ass. 



VISITS TO SOME BOTA^^IC GAEDE^^S ABROAD. 



By Dr. Pehr Olsson-Seffer. 



(Continuation.) 

 X. Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Geylon. 



While every botanist readily acknowledges the superiority 

 of the Buitenzorg Gardens above any other as a botanical insti- 

 tution, the general tourist of the globe trotter kind is loud in 

 praising the Peradeniya Gardens as "the most beautiful gardens 

 in the world." Even from a purely landscape point of view it 

 is doubtful whether the palm for beauty should be given to Pera- 

 deniya. Among the eighty and odd botanical gardens I have 

 visited in various parts of the world I consider several as fully 

 equalling the Peradeniya Gardens. But it cannot be denied that 

 the natural advantages of this place are unusual, and that the 

 gardens have been laid out with much taste and care. 



The site of the garden is on the bank of the Mahaweli 

 Ganga, the largest river of Ceylon, on a peninsula formed by the 

 winding river, and sheltered by high mountain ranges. The 

 elevation above sea level is nearly 1,600 feet, and in this moun- 

 tain valley we have an ideal tropical climate with a mean tem- 

 perature of about 70° E. To this place the Royal Gardens were 

 transferred in the year 1821 from Kalutara, in the southern part 

 of the island, where thev had been for a number of vears. The 



