THE BOTANY OF BERMUDA. 43 



importation of seeds for agricultural and horticultural purposes for two 

 centuries and a half accounts for a great number of chance species, es- 

 pecially the importation of hay from America. 



The species which may also be said to be naturalized, but were orig- 

 inally introduced, designedly for cultivation or ornament, whose pres- 

 ence is, therefore, due to direct human agency, more or less traceable, 

 and which cannot in any sense be regarded as native, 414 in number, 

 are distinguished by the letter C. 



Lastly, there remains a large and fluctuating class of plants, of hor- 

 ticultural but not botanical interest, which are found here and there 

 under cultivation, bat have no proper place in the local flora. They 

 are inserted in the catalogue to complete the view of the vegeta- 

 tion of Bermuda, as related to climate, and as it presents itself to the 

 visitor. These names, 215 in number, are printed in Italics. Many of 

 them date no further back than the writer's term of residence at Gov- 

 ernment House, where one of his first acts was to import a professed 

 gardener, Mr. Michael Middleton, and a skille<l laborer, George Payne, 

 from Kew. They arrived in November, 1871, and from that time to the 

 end of 1876, few months passed without the introduction and trial of 

 new plants. Under a friendly rivalry, many more were at the same 

 time brought up from the West Indies to Clarence House, by successive 

 naval commanders-in-chief, especially by x\dmiral Sir Cooper Key, who 

 followed the governor's example in erecting a conservatory. The 

 present governor, Sir Robert Laflan, has long been known for a taste 

 for horticulture. The garden proper at Mount Langton is, unfortu- 

 nately, of very limited extent, and of a light, poor soil, possessing only 

 the advantage of abundant water. The grounds are extensive, but 

 made up of hills and slopes, thinly clothed with soil, much exposed to 

 northerly winds, and oflering very few spots favorable for planting. It 

 adds not a little to practical difficulties that cartage is rendered tedi- 

 ous and laborious by the distribution of the premises. All this not- 

 withstanding, much was done in the years 1871-76 to extend the flora 

 of the island, and a considerable amount of horticultural experience 

 gained, which should not be thrown away. The social circumstances 

 of Bermuda are peculiar. The resident gentry are too few in number 

 to keep up a corps of professional gardeners ; the colored native labor- 

 ers are rarely intelligent enough for the trade, do not appear to have 

 much natural taste for flowers, although somewhat given to depreda- 

 tions in gardens, and have had very little opportunity of learning. It 



