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THE TndPlQAL AORieULTURiSf, 



[Aug. 'i, i8a6. 



TROPICAL GARDENING. 



Humuu uature, as a rule, exhibits a craving for 

 things hard to be obtaineil. Setting the fashion of 

 the period on one side, nothing shows this more 

 plainly than the popular taste or longing for plants 

 which are natives of a different clime to the one in 

 which we reside. In a temperate clime tropical plants 

 are considered essential, while if we are residing in a 

 tropical one, then how beautiful to our ideas is the 

 vegetation of the temperate region, llesideuts in 

 Jamaica are no exception to the general rule. The 

 native trees, the almost endless list of herbs and 

 flowers, beautiful in their formation, their variation, 

 their numerous hues and colours, are by tlie majority 

 of residents totally disregarded, and satisfaction is 

 (bought in the introduction of the lloraof other countries 

 often no better, seldom as good, as those of native 

 growth were their beauties fully appreciated. The 

 attempt to cultivate these introductions often results — 

 as might be expected — in complete failure, seeing that 

 njost of them are natives of temperate climes. The 

 question is often asked here, " Why is it I cannot get 

 such a plant to grow ? — why do my Dahlias and Gladiolus 

 .so rapidly degenerate:^" which, though apparently a 

 very simple question in itself, involves a description 

 of the principles of vegetable physiology, which is 

 generally for the most part quite unintelligible jargon 

 to the queri.st, and therefore if given falls Hat, with 

 the result of leaving the hearer still unconvinced, and 

 with the determination in his mind to " have another 

 try." Flower gardeniug in Jamaica, especially among 

 the European residents, consists in the main of a 

 series of attempts at the cultivation of that class of 

 plants usually to be found in the well-kept gardens 

 of residents in a temperate clime. In the mountains 

 at high altitudes, where the climate is favourable, 

 these trials are attended with a fair proportion of 

 success, but on the i)lains the same exertions result, 

 as a rule, in disappointment. 8ome may say, "But 

 tropical plants flourish in a temperate climate." So 

 they do, but then the means taken to enable them 

 to do so are adequate to their requirements. There, 

 every protection is alforded them ; houses are built, 

 a costly system of providing them with the proper 

 temperature is followed ; soil is brought (sometimes 

 for hundreds of miles) suitable to their reciuiremeuts, 

 and the knowledge and experience brought to bear 

 upon the cultivation of plants render is a much easier 

 task to the cultivator there than to the cultiv>itor 

 in Jamaica, where the means of instruction in these 

 matters are not so easily obtained. AVho would 

 think of building a house, to be permanently kept at 

 a much lower temperature thau the open air, in the 

 Liguauea plains or other similarly situated place? 

 Yet this is no more absurd than to apply heat for 

 raising the temperature, for it would be done with 

 the same object — viz., that of maintaining a suitable 

 temperature. It is a well-known fact that many plants 

 belonging to the warmer European and Asiatic countries 

 grow well in Jamaica with a little care, ond give a 

 fair return for the labour expended upon them ; but 

 in nearly all of these the close observer will detect a 

 degeneracy, a falling off from the original type, .so 

 gradual, yet so complete, that in course of time they 

 become changed in such a manHcr as to be scarcely 

 recognisable. An incident iu the life of the great 

 botanist, LiuD;eus, plainly indicates that temperature 

 is one of the first points to be studied iu connection 

 with the cultivation of plants. A person had a 

 favourite plant ; he supplied it with heat and moisture, 

 and, indeed, with every-thiug he considered it to 

 reciuire; the result beiiig that it grew "small by degrees, 

 and beautifully less." Liuu;eus, then a young man, 

 but a student, requested that he might le intru.^ted 

 With its treatment. After attentively studying the 

 plant, he withdrew it from its previous situation and 

 pampered treatment, and placed it in a corner vyhere 

 the cold, the wind, the rain, and the frosts of winter, 

 could exert thair influence with impunity. He had 

 placed it in its element, in its proper temperature, 

 ttUt.1 uudtsr ualural cvuditioue, aud was rewarded by 



seeing it grow and flourish. Such arc the lessons to 

 be learueil by those who are fond of cultivation ; 

 nothing but a watchful eye on every requirement can 

 conduce to success. If we see a plant flourishing, find 

 out its family, and then subject its congeners to the 

 same treatment, and iu many cases success will ensue. 

 In Jamaica there exists an enormous amount of 

 material for experiment aiul imi)roveraeut ; i)retty way- 

 side flowers, which if develojjed with half the amount 

 of skill expended upon .similar things in Europe, 

 would repay the labourer a hundredfold. It should be 

 remembered, however, that it is no use to attempt to 

 control Nature ; that is beyond the art of man ; but 

 by a careful study of the various forms she assumes 

 to attain her euds, he may assist her in all her efforts, 

 and thus add much to the beauties of the vegetable 

 kingdom. It is not to be thought for a moment that 

 the writer deprecates the enjoyment by those who 

 wish to do so of their taste for the growth of plants 

 not indigenous to the countrj', but he wishes to indicate 

 to them that they cannot reasonably exjject " great 

 things " from guch cultivation. The writer's ideal of 

 a tropical garden is that it should consist of a collection 

 of the many haiulsome native tree.«, shrubs, ferns, 

 anel palms, and such other things as are indigenou s 

 to the climate, or can be obtaineil from countries 

 enjoying a similar one. By grouping the most striking 

 species in prominent localities, noting their time of 

 flowering, aud also the time when their foliage is in 

 its fullest glory, for the sake of giving them proper 

 arrangement; by filling secluded nooks protected from 

 the sun's rays, and where the wind cannot rutfle their 

 delicate textures, with the finer species of Ferns, of 

 which no countrj', for its size, in the world possesses 

 a greater variety than Jamaica, we should have 

 something upon which the eye could rest with enjoy- 

 ment at every season, and the garden would never 

 be without some feature of interest to the true lover 

 of uature. Have you a dry spot where nothing 

 appears willing to grow ? Then assemble together 

 the different species of the Cactus tribe. The 

 succulent Euphorbias, and other allied genera, and 

 what was formerly nothing but "Macca"* will, by 

 its various and curious habit of growth, "'become of 

 interest to its possessor, and will enlighten the visitor 

 as to the many strange forms of vegetable life to be 

 found iu the island. Old trees which cannot be con- 

 veniently removed can, bj' putting iu a plant of 

 Bougainvillea or other climber at their base, be fo^-med 

 in a year or two into an magnificent spectacle. 

 Growingfences should be planted around the boundaries ; 

 bushy trees for wind-breaks, and small flowering 

 plants and shrubs for foregrounds, suitable plants for 

 which can easily be obtained at the local gardens 

 supported by the Government. An avenue of Palms, 

 a woody retreat surrounded by groves of the Orange, 

 the Citron, or the Jasmine, a corner in which bulbous 

 and other plants of low stature find congenial home, 

 borders well protected for plants noted for their 

 beautiful leaves, and others for their llowers, are 

 things which should be sought for, found, aud admired 

 iu every tropical garden. — J. H, Hart, Jamaica in 

 " Gardeners Chronicle." 



yiLVER-LEAF Disease.— There is a condition of tilings 

 in stone-fruit trees, such as Plums, Peaches, Aimonds, 

 Apricots, and also in Portugal Lnurels, which, for 

 want of a better name, we have called silver-leaf. 

 We have repeatedly examined such leaves, but never 

 found any further injury than a separation of the 

 upper skiu from the substances of the leaf — whence 

 the peculiar colour. It appears that in France tbc 

 affection is called " plomb " (lead), and it has recently- 

 been studied by M. Prillieux, who, however, does 

 not seem to have been more successful than his 

 predecessors iu ascertaining the causes of this mala.ly. 

 The disease is a serious matter in Plum orchard^-, as 

 it generally causes the death of the tree.— Garde.irr^' 

 Clirfndcle. 



*yVest Indian tcrme for any thorny plant. 



