260 AZOREAN FLORA. [^September, 



a very fine garden here and a first-rate collection of plants of all 

 kinds except Heaths> wliicTi are impatient of the great heat of the 

 summer months, which here is almost tropical. New Holland 

 species thrive well in the open air. We have Araucarias from 

 forty to fifty feet high ; and Banksias and Dryandras grow too 

 fast to live long. 



The great enemy to vegetation is the wind, which here is so 

 violent that no tree can resist its force. All arboreal vegetation, 

 unless protected, is torn up by the roots or broken by the severity 

 of the winds. All plants suffer from these visitations.* 



Another enemy against which we have to contend is the salt 

 spray, which these awful tempests drive inland for miles and wet 

 the plants, several of which will not endure this salt-water 

 drenching. These storms are all from the south. 



Ferns are neither plentiful nor of the most prized kinds ; one 

 of the commonest is Balantium culcita, Kaulf. [Dicksonia culcita, 

 L'Herit.) This grows on open parts, at about 2000 feet above the 

 level of the sea. It does not thrive in our garden. 



The whole of these islands are volcanic, and the mountains 

 which cover the whole surface are lofty and precipitous, and their 



for some years past. In the three years ending with 1842, the average imports 

 were 334,070 boxes ; in the five years ending with 1850, they had increased to 

 380,000 boxes. Since then the quantity has been computed in bushels. The 

 average annual imports in the five years ending with 1860 were 977,4 iO bushels. 

 The quantity taken for consumption has now reached upwards of 1,000,000 bushels ; 

 and, assuming each bushel to contain 650, this would give 650 millions of oranges, 

 or about 22 for each soul of the population in the kingdom. The Azores, or 

 Western Islands, from whence the finest St. Michael oranges come, furnish us 

 with the largest supply. The imports from thence have doubled in the last five 

 years. The expense of walling and planting an acre of orange garden is stated to 

 be £15 for the waff, £8 for 65 trees, and £2 for labour. It yields half a crop 

 of beans or Indian corn during seven years, but no oranges ; from eight to 

 eleven years half a crop of oranges is obtained ; then a full crop, which is sold 

 for £10 to £15. Each tree on arriving at matui'ity will produce annually, on an 

 average, 12,000 to 16,000 oranges ; one grower is said to have picked 26,000 from 

 a single tree. The tree blooms in March and April, and oranges are gathered for 

 the London market as early as November. The Portugviese never eat them before 

 the end of January, at which time they possess their full flavour." — Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. 



* The history of our insular colonies supports this ; see ' Phytologist,' vol. vi. p. 

 32. There is the following quotation from a New Zealand paper : — " Canterbm-y (ui 

 New Zealand) certainly gives promise of being a first-rate fruit-growing country, 

 wherever due precaution is taken to provide the first requisite of successful garden- 

 ing, viz. good shelter." 



