28 MRS MARY ROSS COOPER ON 
a little bit of beautiful natural bush on our way; it was 
much overgrown, and we had to make a path through the 
underwood, ruthlessly walking over beds of the loveliest 
maiden-hair fern.” [On this farm there also grows a very 
lovely, large yellow-hearted anemone—Anemone Fauninee— 
specially prized, as there are only two species of anemone 
in Natal.] 
From the above description some idea may be formed of 
the luxuriance of the flora at that elevation, and on the coast 
zone it is surpassed in respect of profusion and brilliance. 
I have so far confined myself to the indigenous plants of 
Natal, but this gives only a partial idea of the flora as one 
sees it in the colony, for numerous European and other 
foreign plants flourish and become naturalised — from 
“buttercups and daisies” and the oak of Old England to 
the eucalyptus and wattle of Australia, the gorgeous flame- 
flowered flamboyant of Madagascar, and the stately palms of 
India. Such are the varieties of climate and diversity of 
soil of Natal, that nearly all countries are represented in 
its cosmopolitan flora. Many fruits—not indigenous— 
abound, such as bananas, pine-apples, mangoes, oranges, 
peaches, apples, and plums. Bananas sell at 1s. 6d. a 
hundred, and medium-sized pine-apples at 1s. 6d. a dozen. 
I may say that the flavour of many of the fruits is poor 
in comparison with what it ought to be. The reason of 
this is that the sun is expected to do everything, and it 
does its part so well that the soil is often quite neglected. 
It is no uncommon sight to see peach-trees growing in 
timber-yards, and bearing fruit plentifully. The flavour, 
however, as may be easily imagined, is very different from 
that of the home peach, grown under glass, or trained against 
a sunny wall, with its roots dipping in rich loam. 
With regard to the culture of the vine, 1 may mention 
an interesting fact. As is well known, the vine flourishes 
and is very successfully cultivated in the Cape Colony, 
while in Natal it is almost a complete failure. The cause 
of that is that at the Cape the rainfall is in winter, in 
Natal it is in summer; and the few varieties that can be 
cultivated at all are of no economic value whatever as 
wine-producers, 
