34: THE ATLANTIC. [chap. i. 



hedge-plants are of a bright lively green. The one most used 

 is Myrica faya, a native plant, which grows very abundantly 

 on all the uplands, and seems to be regarded as a kind of badge 

 in the islands, as its relation Myrica gale is in the West High- 

 lands of Scotland. Two other native plants, Laurus Canariensis 

 and Persea Indica, are sometimes employed, but they are sup- 

 posed to afiect the soil prejudicially. Of late years a very ele- 

 gant Japanese shrub, PittosponnQ undulatum, which was orig- 

 inally introduced from England, has become widely used as a 

 shelter-plant ; and an allied species, Pittos^orimi tobira, is found 

 to thrive well in quintas exposed to the sea-breeze. 



It is needless to say that the culture of the orange is the main 

 industry of San Miguel, and that the wonderful perfection at 

 which this delicious fruit arrives has been sufficient to give the 

 island an advantage over places less remote, and to insure a rea- 

 sonable amount of wealth to the owners of the ground. The 

 cultivation of the orange is simple and inexpensive. The soil 

 formed by the wearing-down of the volcanic rocks is, as a rule, 

 originally rich. It is inclosed and worked for a year or two, 

 and young plants of good varieties, from layers or grafts, are 

 planted at distances of eight or ten yards. Strong plants from 

 layers begin to fruit in two or three years. They come into 

 full bearing in from eight to ten years, when each tree should 

 produce about fifteen hundred oranges. The orange-trees are 

 lightly pruned, little more than the harsh spiny shoots being 

 removed. The surface of the ground is kept clean and tid}'' 

 with a hoe, and it is manured yearly, or at longer intervals, by 

 a method introduced in old times into Britain by the Romans : 

 lupins, which send up a rapid and luxuriant growth, and pro- 

 duce a large quantity of highly nitrogenous seed in the rich 

 new soil, are sown thickly among the trees, and then the whole 

 — straw, pods, and seeds — are dug into the ground. This seems 

 to be sufficient to mellow the soil, and any other manure is 

 rarely used for this crop. 



