A\Jii. i, i3iib:j tm TROPICAL AaRICULTtJHIST, 



87 



the existence of a single plant in Djerba, which 

 island Shaw never visited. No human being who had 

 ever tasted its fruit once would caie to do so again ; 

 it is not, in fact, possible for either man or animals 

 to exist upon it. There is a cultivated variety some- 

 what more palatable, but still it is bj' no means a 

 luscious fruit, or worthy of immortalitj'. It seems to 

 me unnecessary to go out of the way to search for 

 the Homeric food ; the island is covered with it at 

 the present time ; no greater blessing than it was 

 ever bestowed by Providence on man, and no other 

 fruit is so all-sufficient for human sustenance as the 

 ♦ honey-sweet Lotus ' of the ancients — the Date of the 

 modern Arab. 



"The Date of Djerba is excellent, though inferior 

 to that of the Djerid, which is certainly the finest in 

 the world. This latter, however, is always found 

 abundantly in the Djerba market. As this is the first 

 place where the Date forms the daily food of the 

 inhabitants, at which coasting vessels from the cast 

 would touch, the fruit woidd naturally produce a deep 

 impression on travellers. The wiue made from the 

 sap of the tree is as familiar as the fruit itself, and 

 may have contributed to render the sailors oblivious 

 of "their homeward way.'" — Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



THE HIMALAYAN LARCH. 



The Himalayan Larch (Larix Griffithii), was dis- 

 covered in the Bhotan Himalaya by the celebrated 

 botanist and traveller. Dr. W. Griffith, whose ener- 

 mous collections of plants lay, for many years after 

 his death, buried in the cellars of the old East India 

 House in Leadenhall .Street; nor was the tree known 

 to botanists till it was re-discovered by myself in the 

 East Nepaul and Sikkim Himalaya in 1)S4S. It is the 

 only Indian species of the genus, and it is a remark- 

 able fact that Larix is the only genus of Conifers 

 which is common to Europe and India, and which 

 is not found in the ^Vestern Himalaya. The genera are 

 Finns, Abies, Picea, Tsuga, Cedrus, Cupressus*, Juni- 

 perus, Taxus, of which all but Tsuga, Cedrus, and 

 (Jupressus occur throughout the length of that vast 

 range, the exceptions being that the first of these is 

 confined to the Central and Eastern Himalaya, and 

 the two others to the "Western half, as Larix is to 

 the eastern. Turning now to the distribution of the 

 other Old AV'orld Larches, L. Europ;ca occupies a very 

 narrow area, along the great mountain ranges of 

 Central Europe, from Dauphiny to 8tyria, and is 

 found nowhere to the north or south of these limits. 

 The Siberian Larch, L. Ledebourii, has its western 

 limit in North Russia and the Ural, reappearing east- 

 ward at intervals throughout Northern and Central 

 Siberia, and southwards in the Altai Mountains. L. 

 dahurica begins in the country from which it takes its 

 name, and advances thence eastwards, and no doubt 

 these or other species occur in the mountains of 

 Western China. Thus there appears to be a great gap 

 in the distribution of Larix, extending from Styria to 

 the Eastern Himalaya, for no Larch has been found 

 in Greece, Turkey, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, Syria, 

 Persia or Afghanistan, but curiously enough, this 

 interval is to a great extent occupied by Cedrus, 

 which, commencing in the AYesteru Himalaya, is con- 

 tinued on thence to Afghanistan, and reappears in 

 Syria, Asia Minor and North Africa. "\Yhen we be- 

 come acquainted with the geological ages at which 

 these genera first appeared on the globe this fact in 

 their distribution will, no doubt, prove to be of great 

 significance. 



The Himalayan Larch (Larix Griffithii, Hooker fil. 

 and Thompson) is a small tree, not exceeding 40 feet 

 in height, with precisely the habit of L. Europrea, var. 

 pendula, which it so closely resi^mbles as to have 

 deceived myself and other.'^. It differs from that plant 

 In the very large cones with very long points to the 

 exsertcd bracts. It is called Sah or Saar by the Lep- 



* Oupressus fuuobris, though found only in the 

 Eisteru Himalaya, is undoubtedly planted there, nor 

 did I sec it ^uywhere but close to tuunjles or 



chas of Sikkim, and Boarga sella by the Nepalese, 

 who informed me that it was found as far west as 

 the heads of the Cosi river in Eistern Nepaul. It occurs 

 only towards the heads of the valleys near the snows, 

 many miles from the plains of India, at elevations 

 of 10,000 to ll'.OOO feet, and where I first saw it it 

 clothed old morianes; and though subsequently met 

 with on grassy or bushy slopes, it was only when there 

 was much rock and free drainage. The wood is regarded 

 as the most durable of all the Sikkim Conifers, 

 and is easily split into planks, but all of those that 

 I met with were smalt, soft, white; I never saw any 

 hard, close-grained red wood, like that of the Larch 

 in Switzerland, which may be accounted for by the 

 extreme witness of the Sikkim climate. 



The cultivation of the Himalayan Larch in Europe 

 has hitherto proved a total failure, at least as far as 

 I have ascertained. I sent ([uantities of the seed to 

 Kew in 1818, which germinated freely, and hundreds 

 of plants were raised and widely distributed but in 

 every case these succumbed, in a few years, to viru- 

 lent attacks of Coccus Laricis. liepeated importations 

 of the seed into Kew and elsewhere have met no 

 better fate. I have often been shown L. Europwa for 

 L. Griffithii, sometimes with the most positive assur- 

 ance that the tree was received as such from Kew, 

 but in no instance have these borne the unmistake- 

 able cone of the Himalayan Larch.— F. D. Hookeh, — 

 Garde ners' Chronicle. 



FORESTRY. 



CoXslDEliATIONS PeEI.IMINARY TO PLANTING. 



Draining should be well* attended to, and every 

 foot of wet surface rendered sufficiently dry for the 

 growth of trees. This does not, as is erroneously 

 believed, necessitate the drains being deep — 18 — 20 

 inches in depth, and 2— 2| feet in width at the top, 

 being usually sufficient for clay, and 24 inches to 3 

 feet often required for moss. Deep drains are very 

 objectionable in plantations, and where choice cjm be 

 made, rather keep closer together, and make more 

 of them for the same outlay. 



The ground should be very closely examined, sur- 

 veyed, and laid otf, so as to enable the planting to 

 be done in groups — such as soft moss for Norway 

 Spruce, clay for Oak or Beech, gravel for Scotch Fir, 

 loam for Larch, Poijlars ;ind hard woods. 



All rauk herbage should be thoroughly subdued 

 according to its kind. AV'hins, Broom, Brambles, and 

 such-like may be kept down by close cutting, while 

 Heather and rauk grasses are most properly subdued 

 by burning; and where Heath is the principal growth 

 it is to the advantage of the young trees that the 

 Heath be burnt at least three years previous to plant- 

 ing. Next to destruction by rabbits I believe more 

 injury is done to young trees by planting them amongst 

 rank Heather and other herbage than any, if not all 

 others put together. I have repeatedly witnessed 

 plantations linger for years between life and death 

 amongst rank Heather, and could only satisfy myself 

 as t(» the cause of such unaccountably retarded growth 

 by taking up some of the trees and examining their 

 roots, when I found them so badly rooted that a tree 

 3—4 feet high would almost have gone into a 4-inch 

 flower-pot without confining the roots, for the simple 

 reason that there were scarcely any to confine. It is 

 sometimes the wisest and best thing to do with a 

 j'oung plantation in that condition to set fire to it and 

 burn off every vestige and to plant it anew with small 

 plants suited to the soil and exposure, &c. 



Some years ago a landed proprietor in Aberdeen- 

 shire sought advice about a young Larch plantation 

 which he observed was not thriving. The trees were 

 all growing amongst luxuriant herbage, and not a 

 few amongst ferns, or rather Brackens. We suspected 

 at once what was the matter, and dug up a tree 

 here and there to show what was the cause of the 

 slow growth and stunted condition of the trees. It 

 is from the lower branches that a yoiuig tree dcrive.s 

 its principle nourishment, and if these are deprived 

 of their vitality from any cause it follows as a natural 

 aud certain result that fUe wbol^ ccuuoiuy of the tree'e 



