March 2, 1907 



HORTICULTURE 



253 



Gardens and Plantations of Jamaica 



{Hee Frontispiece.) 



At this time when people everywhere are sympathiz- 

 ing and mourning over the terrible calamity which 

 befell the beautiful island of Jamaica, a short story 

 about its lovely gardens and plantations should interest 

 many. 



Jamaica is only 144 miles long and 49 miles wide in 

 its broadest part. Comparino; Jamaica with other parts 



On the Kio Cor.KK River, .Tamaica 



of the world, there are few places of the same size that 

 can claim so many genera and species of plants. There 

 are about 500 species of ferns, and of flowering plants 

 there are over 2000 species described and many species 

 are j'et to be found in the Blue Mountains in parts 

 which have not been explored. 



The island has lofty, rugged mountains which are 

 clothed with the richest vegetation. The highest peak 

 in the Blue Mountains is 7,423 feet. These mountains 

 at different altitudes give all kinds of climatic condi- 

 tions, with the exception of frost and snow, tlierefore 

 there are to be found plants from all parts of the world. 

 In the lower parts of the island M'here the tropical con- 

 ditions are most favorable one finds plants of the most 

 tropical types. Up in the mountains plants from north- 

 ern countries have been introduced. I found some of 

 our North American trees and they were doing fairly 

 well. Liriodendron tulipifera, the tulip tree, was a 

 good-sized tree and the worst enemy it had to contend 

 with was the strong winds of the high mountains. Iris 

 germanica I found in bloom in January and growing 

 most luxuriantly. 



AVlien a person gets enthusiastic over the rich vegeta- 

 tion of this island a listener or reader can hardly credit 

 the descriptions given of the luxuriance of the vegeta- 

 tion. With this explanation about the climatic condi- 

 tions at different altitudes and of the introduction of 

 plants froTu all parts of -the world it can be easily seen 

 and undprstood how rich and varied the vegetation of 

 this island is. Persons who are not familiar with plants 

 give credit to Jamaica for many plants that do not 



belong to its flora. In fact, the most showy plants one 

 sees in the gardens and in the streets are not natives 

 but have been introduced. Jamaicans are great lovers 

 of plants and have worked hard for many years to get 

 all the new and most showy for their gardens. When 

 gardening was in its infancy in this country Jamaica 

 was offering a prize of one thousand guineas to any per- 

 son who would introduce the bread fruit to the i?land. 

 The history of the introduction of many of the useful 

 and showy plants that are seen in the island is intensely 

 interesting. 



The important gardens of Jamaica are its botanic and 

 public gardens. To get at the history of the botanic 

 gardens we have to go back one hundred and fifty years. 

 The first botanic garden in the island belonged to a 

 private gentleman, Mr. Hinton East, and was situated 

 near Gordon Town, nine miles from Kingston. Sir 

 Basil Keith was governor in 1774 and he was deter- 

 mined to have two botanic gardens, one a "European 

 Garden" and the other a "Tropical Garden." In De- 

 cember of that year a committee of the legislature recom- 

 mended that £700 be appropriated for the purchase of 

 a piece of land for a botanic garden and that £300 be 

 provided for the annual salary of a botanist. The fol- 

 lowing year, 1775, a piece of land adjoining Mr. East's 

 was purchased and Dr. Tliomas Clarke became island 

 botanist. At this time we find many interesting and 

 useful plants were introduced. This same year Dr. 

 Clarke introduced the tea plant, camphor, Litchi, Cicas 

 circinalis and Desmondium gyranj. Three years later 



On the Rio Cobke Eh^ek, Jamaica 



Akee (Blighia sapida) was introduced and in 1779 the 

 clove tree was first brought to the island. About this 

 time it was found that the ground in the botanic garden 

 at Gordon Town was unsuitable for some of the plants 

 and it was decided to purchase land at Bath where the 

 climatic conditions and the soil were more favorable. 



In the year 1782 one of Lord Eodney's squadron cap- 

 tured a French ship liound from Mauritius for Havti 



