546 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January i, 1883. 



and a number of old rotten logs suspended from the roof. 

 Voila tout! Yet some of those Orchids, if thej could be 

 brought to Covtnt Garden, would fetch more tliau their 

 weight in gold, and are as beautiful as rare. Here, too, 

 we may see the curious Papau tree, common enough in 

 Indian gardeus, whose fruit tastes like Apricot raw; is 

 indistinguishable from Apples in a pie ; and Las farther the 

 curious picperty of making the toughest meat tender when 

 it is rubbed upon it. It is even said that a joint of meat 

 huug under the crown of the tree will soon become putrid. 

 Surely Upas tree if ever tiiere was one ! The pleasant 

 twittering of birds, however, is missed in tliese gardens. 

 All the birds which haunt the Indian gardens on the 

 plains — the little bulbul excepted, and his song is not worth 

 much after all — have unpleasant voices. The khel or In<.han 

 cuckoo, which is particularly fond of gardens, has the most 

 monotonous note of all the birds that fly, the bell bird 

 of the Malayan jungles not excepted. "His is a song," 

 ae a griffin once expressed it "to give you a pain in yuur 

 stomach." 



A very different garden is that of the Tea and Coffee 

 planter onthe Nilgiris. As one ascends the Coonor Ghat, 

 on the way to Ootacamund, the Tea and Coffee gardens 

 form a remarkable feature of the scenery. They cling to 

 the face of the mountains ou the right hand and on the 

 left, and at a distance appear to clothe what are precipices. 

 They are surrounded by forest jungle, a dense and tangled 

 mass of vegetation, and are in fact only clearings of 10, 50, 

 100, or more acres cut out of the original jungle. When 

 the Coffee shrubs, which resemble Laurels cut down for 

 the shelter of game in an English covert, are covered with 

 the crimson berry, the seed of which is the Coffee of 

 commerce, the effect is striking, and even beautiful. But 

 for a garden the surroundings are wild. Monkeys chatter 

 in the treei overhead, and it is very possible that a panther, 

 or even a tiger may be lurking within a few yards of the 

 clearing. Enormous pythons, too, are sometimes *'ouud in 

 this jungle, creatiu-es that are somewhat out of keeping 

 with our ideas of horticultural repose. Tea gardens are less 

 pretty than Collee gardens. They look scrubby. The plants 

 are kept cut to about the height of a three-legged stool, 

 and they have a circumference big enough for Daniel 

 Lambert to sit down upon. They are planted in formal 

 rows, but their white blossoms are pleasing, though there 

 is a considerable sameness about a Tea garden. The Nilgiri 

 "Orange Pekoe is perhaps the most delicious Tea there is 

 when the palate becomes accustomed to its peculiar flavuur 

 and exquisite aroma; but it is an expensive Tea even upon 

 the spot^ — 3i-. or so per pound — and there is an immense 

 difference between the Teas of different estates. 



Cinchona gardens are another peculiarity of the Nilgiri 

 Hills. Perhaps they ought more properly to be called 

 plantations, for the Cinchona tree, of which our quinine 

 is made, grows tn a great size, and is a handsome tree, 

 with its large broad leaves, in some varieties tinged with 

 red underneath. This is one of the most profitable gardens 

 extant. No market gardens near London, worth perhaps 

 £100 per acre, can come near the Indian Cinchona, which, 

 under favourable circumstances, is said to pay 100 per cent. 

 on the original outlay. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



The origin of cultivated f lauts might at first eight seem 

 an easy matter to determine. We are so accustomed in 

 gardens to cultivate what is put before us that the great 

 majority of gardeners speedily forget, in the face of the 

 changes that are brought about by cultivation, what the 

 original form really was. The uncertainty and in some 

 cases complete ignorance of the origin of many of our 

 Gommonest drugs is another case in point. It is for this 

 reason among others, that we in this journal have from 

 the very first endeavoured carefully to describe the original 

 types as they first api>ear and to note the progress made by 

 careful selection, hybridisation, and crossing as time goes ou. 

 "We may justly, we think, take some credit to ourselves for 

 this part of our work, and express the hope tliat the future 

 historian of gardens-plants will, as Darwin notably did, 

 find a vast store of material to his hand in our pages. 

 This remark of course applies more particularly to the 

 hosts of decorative plants that have been introduced within 

 the last forty years. Nevertheless it is rather remarkable 

 how ignorant we are of the real origin of some of our 



commonest plants. Who, for instance, knows the origin 

 I of the cultivated Mignonette? In a truly wild state it is 

 I not known, yet it must have originated from some 

 ; presumably well-known species, so altered by long cultiv- 

 ation that definite traces of its source are lost. But if 

 this is the case with what we may for convenience sake 

 call decorative plants, much more so is it with plants 

 like Wheat, which have been cultivated ou a large scale 

 from time immemorial. The truth is that these, as it 

 were, artificial products differ more from the wild ty|jes 

 than these do among themselves. 



To clear up the history of many of these plants demands 

 a combination of peculiar qualification. He who would de- 

 vote himself to this branch of knowledge must be, first 

 and foremost, a systematic botanist, and he must be versed 

 in history, in archaeology, in geography, in ethnology, and 

 in various aucient and modern languages. By the combined 

 and comparative study of the iudications furnished from 

 these several sources we may arrive utlimately at a decision 

 as to the native country and original form of many 

 plants whose history is not at present known. Proceed- 

 ing on these lines, M. Alphonse de Candolle lias lately 

 issued a volume, which will for all time prove a most 

 valuable mine of information for the student.* In this 

 invaluable Geographie Jiotanique M. de Candolle also treated 

 on this subject. Since 1856, however, many additions have 

 been made to our knowledge, so that the present volume 

 is no mere reprint, but an entirely new work, including 

 the information derived from various som-ces down to the 

 present period. 8ome 250 plants in common cultivation 

 in various parts of the world are passed in re^dew, and 

 their history briefly ei^itomised. The aim of the author 

 has been to investigate the original form and the native 

 countrj' of each of these selected plants prior to its being 

 generally cultivated. Linnieus and the older botanists paid 

 so little attention to this part of the subject that the 

 majority of their indications have proved erroneous. As 

 a matter of fact, names of cultivated plants and the 

 localities wherein they originated were taken on hearsay 

 and accepted without any investigation. Gossypium bar- 

 badense — the source of some of the best American varieties 

 of Cotton occurs to us at the moment of writing as a case 

 in point. — assuredly it did not originate in Barbados, and 

 a very little research would reveal numerous other inst-auces, 

 but let this one suffice for illustration. With all his care 

 and his laborious research of varied character, I\I. de 

 Candolle has not in all cases succeeded in tracing the 

 origin of the plants in question. He is led, therefore, to 

 adopt, according to circumstances, one of two hypotheses : 

 either the plant in question has been so changeil by ages 

 of cultivation that it is impossible to refer it to its wild 

 original, or the wild species has absolutely disappeared from 

 the face of the globe. The Lentil and the Chick Pea, 

 probably no louger exist in a state of Nature, and other 

 species, like the AVbeat, the Maize, the Bean, the Carthamus, 

 which are very rare in a wild state, are in process of 

 extiuction. Just as the aborigines of Tasmania have dis- 

 appeared, and as those of New Zealand and Australia are 

 rapidly disappearing, so it would seem that some plants 

 have vanished, or are likely .speedily to do so, being no 

 louger fitted to maintain themselves in the universal struggle 

 among living beings. 



In discussing these matters M. de Candolle first indicates 

 the manner and period at which cultivation commenced 

 in various countries. The process was everywhere very 

 gradual iu the first instance, so gradual and slow that it 

 is difficult to see show a savage race, devoted to fishing, 

 hunting, and the excitement of the chase, should have 

 gradually become agriculturists. AVe get little help in this 

 department from the study of animal instincts and prac- 

 tices; ants store up food, and the gardener-bird, figured in 

 these columns in IS78, vol. ix., p. 333, makes a sort of 

 garden; but between this feeble commencement — if it be 

 really commencement — aud regular systematic cultivation 

 on a large scale, the difference is vast and not at present 

 to be bridged over, save by authoritative statements beyond 

 the scope of scientific investigation. 



There are whole regions of the globe, such as Australia, 

 Patagonia, and even the Cape of Good Hope, which have 



* Onyine dcs Plantes Ouftivee. Par A. Di Candulle. 

 Paris: Germer, Bailliere et Oie., 1883. (Issued in October, 

 1882.) 



