466 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[December i, 1884. 



shade of a pretty tree, with its base fringed with Fern 

 and painted leaves; it was uuique, and worth more than 

 a mile of the clipped hedge. I saw a European Olive 

 tree, and also a Carob tree ; both looked healthy. I should 

 not wonder if Mysore, with its almost Mediterranean climate, 

 were suited to these trees. The Cocoa-nut Palm grows 

 well, and so do other Palms, but nowhere are they used 

 for decorative purposes. I have not seen one specimen 

 of Lombardy Poplar, although it ought to do well in such 

 a climate. They have two Figs, the Ficus comosa and 

 Benjamina, which are very pretty and suited for avenues. 

 All over Bangalore there is an infinity of trees of the 

 Foiociana regia. What a conflagration in the spring! Then, 

 one would almost require tinted spectacles to save his eyes 

 from the blaze — I did not see, however, a single decent 

 avenue of any sort; such as would make you stop and 

 look at it again and again, and say withiu # yourself, "How 

 fine ! " All are of the " higgledy-piggledy ' style. In one 

 line are planted a number of incongruous trees that cannot 

 by their nature ever form a line. All avenues, in fact, 

 are planted like this in India. In all my travels from 

 north to south I have not yet seen one avenue worth 

 looking at, except the Tamarind one at Fyzabad, and that, 

 I was told, was planted by a Rani " somebody'' long before 

 the British occupation. I liked Bangalore very much, but 

 I left it with the impression that they may have engineers 

 and gardeners there, but the^re was no trace of artists. 

 With such wealth of trees and shrubs growing in the 

 open air, what a paradise a laudscape gardener might make 

 of this military capital of South India, with its fine 

 Mediterranean climate ! 



The Nilgikis. — From Bangalore I took the train to Meta- 

 pollum, at the foot of the Nilgiri Mountains. Between 

 this station and the Kallar River there is a forest of the 

 Betel-nut Falm, which is very fine. Conoor is the first 

 hill station one comes to. It is an exceedingly pretty place, 

 with Tea, Coffee, Cinchona, and Eucalyptus plantations in 

 all directions. Some of the Eucalypti I thought 100 feet 

 high. When young the E. globulus makes the hillside 

 look quite blue. Camellias thrive in the open air, but they 

 have a horrid way of chopping off their heads. I think 

 this both a stupid and a barbarous way of pruning a lovely 

 bush. In Floreuce I have seen Camellia bushes 20 feet 

 high. As to Heliotrope, this appears to be the home for 

 it. Opposite my hotel window there was a bank of Helio- 

 trope 80 paces long and 3 feet broad, covered with ex- 

 quisitely scented flowers. It grows like a weed at Conoor. 

 Tree Ferns grow well, I saw some 10 feet high. Here I 

 saw a fine specimen of the Agave americana variegata. It 

 was 6 or 7 feet high, and a perfect picture ; also a Brug- 

 mansia suaveolens, 12 feet high, covered with its enchant- 

 ing white trumpet-flowers. Couoor ought to be a fine 

 place for Oleander; I did not, however, see one. Sim's 

 Park is a pretty place enough, but the whole of it is 

 dotted with trees of all sorts without the ghost of a notion 

 of grouping for effect. All this is very exasperating to 

 an artistic eye. 



Ootacamund is certainly colder and drier in winter than 

 Connor. It is much more elevated, but on the whole, Couoor 

 is a prettier place. Ooty, as they call it, is much more 

 extensive, and commands far finer views. Both at Conoor 

 and Ooty the roads are passable for pony carriages, and 

 also for larger vehicles at Ooty ; there are forestsof Eucalyptus 

 globulus everywhere. It is quite changing the aspect of 

 the hills; the. Acacia melanoxylou is also plentiful; the 

 latter is a grand tree; Grevillea robusta also grows well. 

 Another Australian tree is the Acacia decurrens. II semis 

 its roots in all directions, throwing up root-shoots all along. 

 They are beginning to fear that, if it has time enough, it 

 will overrun the whole place, and will he to the Nilgiri 

 hilis what the rabbit has become to Australia. The owners 

 of property about Ooty appear to have been bitten by 

 an Acacio-Encalyplic mania. They think of planting nothing 

 but" Ashtilnn"and "Blngoom," as thenatives have christened 

 them. At Ooty they make hedges of the scarlet Pelargonium, 

 a little pink Rose, and the little Fuchsia that grows so 

 well in the South of Ireland and tin- Channel Islands, but 

 they are all "higgledy-piggledy." A double scarlet 

 Pelargonium trained against the wall of a house looked 

 well. The gem of Ooty, however, is the Richardia arthiopiea. 

 In many of the watercourses are to be seen small forests 

 of it with magnificent tall foliage, and masses of white 



flowers 10 inches from base to tip, and proportionally broad. 

 It is worth coming to the Nilgiri to see this fine thing. 

 A visit to the Botanic Garden was rather disappointing; 

 it contains many interesting trees. I saw here some good 

 specimens of Datura sanguinea, and a hedge of Heliotrope 

 more than 130 paces long, and about 3 or 4 feet broad. 

 Hitherto I fancy Cinchona planting had absorbed most 

 attention. They have hothouse nurseries for Cinchonas, 

 and at the time I visited the place they were filled with 

 seedlings. The wild crimson Rhododendron, with its charm- 

 ing foliage, is very lovely, yet it is never used for decorative 

 purposes. In the Nilgiri they prick out young Eucalypti 

 into cylindrical pots made of Bamboo basketwork, and 

 when established they are. planted out, basket and all. 

 This dodge I fancy might be used for other trees and 

 climates. The roots are not disturbed, and the pot soon 

 rots. The life of a planter in the Nilgiri ought to be a 

 charming occupation. Tea, Coffee, and Cinchona, all do 

 well in one place or another. At present quantity appears 

 to be the object, but I fancy a time will come when smaller 

 estates, with higher cultivation and better produce, will prob- 

 ably pay as well as large estates do now. I think the future 

 of these products is great, not perhaps in value, but in extent 

 of use. The people of India have not been tapped yet, as 

 far as Tea and Coffee are concerned. Africa has not been 

 touched as far as regards Tea. The manufacture of theine 

 and caffeine may yet possibly absorb millions of pounds of 

 Tea and Coffee. Wherever there is a change of temperature 

 and consequent chill, fevers, neuralgias, fee, will occur — that 

 is, everywhere — and quinine will be used if cheap enough. I 

 fancy many young fellows come out as planters who have 

 not a ghost of a notion what plants mean. They hear there 

 is lots of sport — " shikar " — and out they come provided with 

 a battery of sporting guns, and hope to make a fortune in five 

 or six years ! Thus I fancy a good deal of loss of time and 

 labour occurs from simple want of the proper knowledge. 

 One afternoon, on my return to Couoor, I was strolling 

 about, and saw an opening to a hill; I went up t" sec 

 what it was like. The hill had Tea, Cinchona, and Eucalyptus, 

 all mixed up. From the age of the different plants I came 

 to the conclusion that the owner had first planted Tea 

 — very few then remained. Then he must have tried 

 Cinchona, and that did not do. Finally he must have said, 

 " Hang it ! I must get something out of this property," 

 and planted it with " Blngooin." It appeared a dry water- 

 less hill, without a trace of leaf mould anywhere. This was 

 a specimen of what an untrained planter would do — every- 

 thing at random, as if he were at a gambling table. 



Tkichinopoli. — After leaving the Nilghiri I went to 

 Trichiuopoli and Madura to seethe famous temples there. 

 Iu those latitudes they use the Agati graudiflora, the 

 "Agast" of the North-west Provinces (a small tree with 

 lai'ge and quaint Pea-shaped flowers), for two purposes — 

 Its, the leaves and tender shoots and flowers are extensively 

 used by natives as vegetables; 2nd, when the tree grows 

 it. is used for shading the " Pan " Vine and Turmeric, 

 or such-like crops. They sow its seed thickly on ridges 

 about a foot or so broad, and use it while young for 

 vegetables, leaving here and there one plant to grow into 

 a small tree. The heads of these trees then meet, and 

 as the leaves are long and pinnate they form a very effective 

 "chickhouse" shade. Without some such" shading the 

 direct sun's rays would scorch the tender plants beneath. 

 The trees down South are principally Cocoa and Fan Palms. 

 I fancy the latter is a Borassus and used for making "toddy." 

 ( if all pretty things a grove of Cocoa-nut Palms is certainly 

 not one of the least. When about one-third grown, anil 

 under that, it is one of the most charming of Palms, and 

 yet curiously enough, only between Pasur and Unjaloor, 

 and further on near the South Indian Railway, have I 

 seen any attempt to plant an avenue of Cocoa-nut Palms 

 put in singly. Rows, three deep, would make a marvellous 

 avenue, so would the Borassus, Phoenix, and other Palms. It 

 is strange that down south I have seen no crops of Pine- 

 apple. With the climate»and moisture of South India it 

 would appear the Pine-apple would grow like a weed one of 

 the favourite crops is the Plantain. AVhat gardens might be 

 made in South India with little or no trouble ! 



The Dkccan. — The public garden at Hyderabad is unique ; 

 all its roads are lined on each side with three rows of ugly 

 crooked pots, with hardly anything in them. The road 

 thither is like a desert, but here'and there, where wells have 



