164 Remarks on the Culture of Exotic Vegetables. 



LIGUSTRUM vulgare. Privet, Keelkruid. Natural Or- 

 der, Olinese and Diandria Monogynia, Linnaeus. 



This slirub is best raised from seeds, the berries should be 

 sown immediately they are ripe ; it may also be increased by 

 cuttings and layers, or by the suckers which spring up from the 

 roots. 



This plant forming only small fibrous roots, impoverishes the 

 ground much less than any other of similar growth. It is, there- 

 fore, of the greatest utility in forming small hedges in the garden 

 for the protection of tender vegetables ; and as it may be kept 

 closely clipped, it is far superior to any shrub whatever for the 

 above purpose. When left to itself, it attains the height of 

 about seven feet ; the wood is useful to the turner, and from the 

 pulp of the berries, a rose-coloured pigment is prepared : with 

 alum they dye wool and silk of a good durable green. 



This plant was introduced into the Colony in 1827. 



PIN US sylvestris. Scotch Pine or Fir. 



This tree is particularly fond of the most exposed and bleak 

 situations, and is therefore adapted to mountainous and rugged 

 countries ; and may be sown or planted while young, wherever 

 a few handfuls of soil are met with. It does not thrive in deep 

 clayey soil, nor bear the sea air so well as some others of the 

 fir tribe. 



The leaves and young branches form a nourishing fodder for 

 sheep and cattle. 



PINUS strobus. Weymouth Pine. 



A quick growing and useful tree, producing the timber known 

 in commerce by the name of white pine. It does not thrive in 

 such bleak exposures as the last kind mentioned ; and it should, 

 therefore, be planted in more sheltered situations, and in a light 

 moist soil. 



PINUS mnea. Stone Pine, Pitjes. DennePitjes. 



This tree, so well known in the Colony, is deserving of more 

 extensive culture than it meets with at present. Experience 

 has already shewn, that it thrives well in hard iron-stone 

 land, as well as in light sandy soil, and that it resists in a 

 great measure the effects of the winds. A few solitary 

 instances of this kind, thriving in bleak exposures, are to be 

 seen in the neighbourhood of the Sneeuwberg; and in such 

 parts of the Colony trees are particularly valuable ; and would 

 become much more so, if they were planted in broad belts 

 at convenient distances from the corn and fruit lands, so as to 

 give shelter to the crops, and form a barrier of defence against 

 the encroachments of cattle. Seeds of these three kinds of pine 

 should be sown aloug with furze, where this last is not wished 

 to remain. 



The first and the last-mentioned kinds appear to have been 

 introduced previous to 1695. 



