440 



JOtTRNAL OF HORTICtJLTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jane 13, ISM. 



Alexandria does not seem to possess many natural advan- 

 tages. Its shoreB are bordered with reefs ; its soil, for the 

 most part, a mixture of sand and rock. The town has no fresh 

 water, but there are huge cisterns filled partly by rain and 

 partly by water from the Nile ; during the present century 

 more than two hundred of these tanks were still in use. 

 There are Fig trees and Palms, and iu the gardens there are 

 Mandarin Oranges, while agriculturists are doing what they 

 can to bring the land under cultivation. Some wild flowers 

 grow by the seashore, amongst them the small lilac Mathiola 

 oxyceras and the Anchusa strigosa, which, but for its hue of 

 bright blue, would remind one of the Daphne cneorum. On 

 the calcareous rocks by the shore at Rambla, about five miles 

 from Alexandria, there grows a very small variety (') of Adian- 

 tnm capillus-Veneris ; it is compact and neat-looking, and 

 hardly appears to be of the same species as the common 

 A. capUlus-Veneris, which was gathered by a garden fountain 

 in Alexandria on the same day. But the prettiest of all the 

 wild flowers gi-owing by that far-off shore is the Dorycnium 

 argenteum, the leaf and petals being like silver hair, the 

 blossom yellow. Besides these there are the Ornithogalum 

 (exscapum?), the Ononis natrix. Geranium moUe, and the 

 Knscus hypophyllum. This last I had never before seen, and 

 its tiny leaf growing out of the large leaf's heart and concealing 

 the little flower beneath its sheltering fold, rendered it very 

 interesting. There is yet one more wild flower to be mentioned, 

 a strange-looking Orobanche, said by the Arabs to be very 

 destructive to Bean crops. 



I cannot leave Alexandria without a passing recognition r.f 

 the two vast granite obelisks, which once formed the entrance 

 to Caesar's palace, but which are now known to us as " Cleo- 

 patra's Needles." One of these obelisks is still standing, and 

 measures nearly 80 feet from the ground. — Filix-fcemina. 



NEW BOOK 



Pinaeta: liein^ a Handbook of the Firs and Pints. By Senilis. 

 Liondon : Hatchard & Co. 



Amoko the characteristics of old age we too often find a 

 proneness to egotism, and it is not absent from the author of 

 the volume before us ; moreovei-, it appears in the worst of 

 combinations, for it is egotism united to a proneness to depre- 

 ciate other labourers in the same field. Thus " Senilis " 

 ventures to publish this as his opinion : " The laudable at- 

 tempts of most modem writers [on Firs and Pines] to remove 

 obscurity have, in good sooth, only added to its shade." We 

 need not ask him if he remembered Gordon's " Pinetum " 

 when he wrote that sentence, for every ptge of "Pinacea;" 

 shows 'bat ho was familiar with it; but we may observe, for 

 he probably does not know, that there is a splendid work on 

 Conifers now publishing by Messrs. Lawson. 



We pass by all the " senility " manifest in the attempt to 

 alter the classification and nomenclature, and the sneers at 

 "theoretical botanists " and " literary pedants ;" and we pause 

 over the better, because the really useful, portion of the volume — 

 we mean the information relative to the qualities of the timber 

 produced by various species, their degrees of hardiness, the 

 soils they prefer, and such like practical knowledge. One ex- 

 tract will suffice to show this : — 



" Abies Douglash (Douglas's Columbian Fir). — This Fir is one of 

 the most distinct, bcantifnl, and valuable ever introdnced into Britain. 

 It is thoronphly hardy, soondin constitution, of larcje dimensions, and 

 very rapid in its growth : not particnlarly fastidions as to soil or 

 sitnation, provided always the soil be in a sweet and healthy condition, 

 and the subsoil cool and porous ; for even now we have it growint^, nay 

 Iniuriatiuj;, alike in the forests and parks of England, in the allavial 

 Tales and hnmid cliine of Hibernia, in the romantic glens and moun- 

 tain dells of old Scotland, and in the dtbris of tha slato roclis of 

 Wales; and in itd native habitats in the north-west it is equally as 

 accommodatint;, for it is to be fonndon the highest peaks of the Itocky 

 Motmtains, a Icnarlod bush about a yard hif^h, while along the river a 

 banks, and in the Columbian valleys, and at the mountain bases, it 

 prodncos tmnks of timber 200 feet in lenRth and 10 feet in diameter 

 at base. Bat mncb lari^er lo:rs have been obtained from it when [n"own 

 under very favourable conditions, for tho tree from which the specimens 

 of its wood wore exhibited at oar International Exhibition (1862), in 

 the British Columbian Court, was over 300 feet in height ; and, jndiiinf; 

 trom its concentric ring-growths, its ago was computed as approximat- 

 ing to a dozen.and.a-half score years. Amongst tho specimens shown 

 of its converted timber were a six-feet diameter of a horizontal section, 

 as sound at its circomference as at its centre. The heavy planks, 

 quartering, and flooring, were, indeed, admirable examples of valuable 

 amber ; and the split palea and slnngleB most clearly proved the fact, 



that for case in nplitting, freedom fr«m lofls in the procesa, and leaa 

 loss of strength in proportion to tho dimensions split, ii for sDch a 

 porposo it baa eqaaU, it has indeed bnt few snperiors. lo common 

 parlance it may be said to rend like a ribbon : anJ this erttrj one cn- 

 F^god in the growth of timber, and mora particularly those who hara 

 to convert it, will admit is a most valuable qaalilj iu a good and gone- 

 rally UHtful wood. 



'' Its timber may truly be termed first. class, Al ; beinjz, as it is, fine- 

 grained, clastic, beav^', strong, free from knots, easily wrought, and 

 capable of receiving a high pohsh ; not very resinons. yet very durable, 

 not subject to warp or splinter ; and its only defect is that in tieea 

 which may be felled ere they have become aged and thorouRbly ma- 

 tnred, or have stopped growing, as we phrase it, it will be fonnd that 

 about one-third of its outer or circumference wood is more whita« 

 porous, and tongh, and consequently less durable ; while about two- 

 thirds of its diameter, the centre or spine wood, is reddish in ooloor 

 and most excellent in qnality. Our bu^t recommendation of this Fir 

 is to stake the fact that we are now cultivating and planting it in 

 thonsauds annually, as a general forest tree ; conBdent it will never 

 disappoint us, although tho opinion wo have formed of it is indeed A 

 high one. As an ornamental tree it only requires to be seen to ba 

 appreciated, and much more extensively planted, both for use 9Si 

 beauty, whether for profit or pleasure." 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, AND 

 FRUITS. 



EnLOPitiA viBEKS (Greenish Eulophia). — Nat. mrd., Orchid- 

 acesB. Linn., Gynandria Monandria. Native of the Neilgherrj 

 Hills and Ceylon. Flowers greenish yellow with slight purplish 

 streaks, not at all showy. — {Hot. Ma/]., t. 5579.) 



SciLLA CoopEui (Cooper's Squill). — Nat. ord.. Liliaoeaa. 

 Linn., Hexandria Monogynia. Native of the Cape of Gtjod 

 Hope. Flowers purple. — (Ibid., t. 5580.) 



CnpRESsns Lawsoniana (Lawson's Cypress). — Nat. ord., 

 Conifera;. Linn., Monoecia Monandria. Native of volleys ia 

 the mountains of North California.— (/hid., t. 5581.) 



WARRcEmzELLA VELATA (\'eiled Warscewizella). — Nat. ord., 

 Orchidaceae. Linn., Gynandria Monandria. Requires only a 

 moderately warm house and shading. Introduced by Messrs. 

 Low & Co., Clapton Nurseries. Native of New Grenada* 

 Flowers yellowish white, lip edged with lilac ; fragrant. — {Ibid-r 

 t. 5582.) 



Begonia gebanioides (Geranium-leaved Begonia.) — Nat. 

 ord., Begoniacese. Limu, Mona)cia Polyandria. Imported 

 from Port Natal by Messrs. Backhouse, York. Small species. 

 Flowers white.— (/iid., t. 558,3.) 



Mtrsiphtllum asparaooides (Asparagus-leaved Myrsi- 

 phyllum). — Nat. ord., Liliacein. Litm., Hexandria Monogynia, 

 Introduced by the Duchess of Beaufort in 1702. Native ot 

 Cape of Good Hope. Flowers pearly white, tinged outsida 

 with green. — {Ibid., t. 5584.) 



Trop.eolums. — Deautii, sulphur-yellow, with crimson spots 

 Attraction, orange, with crimson spot. Exhibited by Hn. 

 Williams, Fortis Green Nursery. — (Floral Man., pi. '.193.) 



Odontoglossum Cervaxtesii. — Native of Mexico. Flowwf 

 pinkish white, marked with lines in broken circles. — (Ibid,^ 

 pi. 294.) . 



Camellia. — Nonpareil, palo rose colour, regularly striped 

 with dark rose. Broaght out by Mr. W. Bull, Chelsea. — [Ibid., 

 pi. 395.) 



Keeria japosica vap.ieo.kta. — Flowers single, yoUow; leaTM 

 with broad white margin. Introduced by Mr. C. Tomer, 

 Slough.— (76id., pi. 296.) 



AuBicnL.AS. — Gem, shaded purple with yellow paste. Kiaff 

 of tlie Criimotii, shaded crimson with yellow paste. Introdnced 

 by Mr. C. Turner, Slongh.— (Ftorut and Potnologist, v., 113.) 



A PEEP AT THE WOODS IN ODD PLACES.— No. Bl 



CUBA. 



It was on a beautiful sunshiny day abont noon that tha 

 passengers on hoard of a large screw-steamer sighted the coast of 

 the lovely island of Cuba. The vessel was oneof 5 line tradinf 

 between Liverpool, Havanna, and New Orleans. The passen- 

 gers were, as is generally the case, of various nations and Tari- 

 ouB interests, comprising British, French. Germans, Spaniards, 

 Mexicans, and .\merioans (North and South), but chiefly of 

 Southern tendency, or, as it would now jokingly be said, ct 

 Southern persuasion. I must not, however, digress, for I am 

 keeping all the passengers standing still whilst I explain their 

 nationalities. .'.ijtjvi- ij. , j..;i_.~ ^-.Jj .> ,-^ j)i;!-c^ iii -iv..^^ 



