Book I. GARDENING IN THE BRITISH COLONIES, &c. 



109 



501. Ceylon. All the productions of Hindostan are said to thrive here. General 

 Macdowal, with the assistance of Dr. Roxburgh of Calcutta, made a valuable collec- 

 tion of exotics, which he left at Columbo in 1804. He introduced peaches, grafted 

 and trained on espaliers, which bore at three years old. Gardeners, in hot climates, 

 Cordiner observes (Account of Ceylon, vol. ii. p. 387.), are much perplexed by the trees 

 which are deciduous in Europe, retaining their leaves all the year. Apples and aspara- 

 gus succeeded well in this climate. The country is rich in botany, and abounds in 

 palm-trees and plantains. Cordiner describes the cinnamon-groves as delightful. 

 " Nothing can exceed the luxury of riding through them in the cool hours of the morn- 

 ing, when the air is cool and the sweetness of the spring blended with the °-low of 

 summer. Every plant in the garden is at all times clothed with fresh and lively green, 

 and when the cinnamon laurels put forth their flame-colored leaves and delicate blossoms 

 the scenery is exquisitely beautiful. The fragrance, however, is not so powerful as 

 strangers are apt to imagine. The cinnamon-bark affords no scent when the trees are 

 growing in tranquillity, and it is only in a few places that the air is perfumed with the 

 delicious odor of other shrubs, the greater proportion of the flowers and blossoms of 

 India being entirely destitute of that quality. Gentle undulations in the ground, and 

 clumps of majestic trees, add to the picturesque appearance of the scene ; and a person 

 cannot move twenty yards into a grove without meeting a hundred species of beautiful 

 plants and flowers springing up spontaneously. Several roads for carriages make wind- 

 ing circuits in the woods, and numerous intersecting foot-paths penetrate the deepest 

 thickets. In sauntering amidst these groves, a botanist or a simple lover of nature may 

 experience the most supreme delight which the vegetable creation is capable of affording, 

 and the zoologist will not be less gratified by the variety, the number, and the strange- 

 ness of many of the animal kingdom." The Cingalese, as we have noticed (5.), lay 

 claim to the situation of paradise, and one of the animals peculiar to the country, the 

 Loris Ceylonicus, Fischeri {Jig. 40.), has been con- 

 sidered by some philosophers as aboriginal man. 

 (Cordiner s Ceylon, vol. ii. p. 421.) The agricul- 

 ture and gardening of the native Cingalese may be 

 considered as one art, the objects of culture being 

 edible roots, as the yam and grains, and spices, as 

 the rice and pepper. Ample details are given by 

 Dr. Davy in his Account, <£c. of Ceylon. 



502. Cape of Good Hope. A very fine garden 

 was formed here by the Dutch about the middle of 

 the seventeenth century, which is described in 

 Lachmans Travels of the Jesuits (vol. i. let. 37.), 

 and thus noticed by Sir William Temple. " It 

 contained nineteen acres, was of an oblong figure, 

 very large extent, and divided into four quarters, by 

 long and cross walks, ranged with all sorts of 

 orange-trees, lemons, limes, and citrons ; each of 

 these four quarters is planted with the trees, fruits,- 

 flowers, and plants, that are native and proper to each of the four parts of the world ; 

 so as in this one inclosure are to be found the several gardens of Europe, Asia, Africa, 

 and America. There could not be, in my mind, a greater thought of a gardener, nor a 

 nobler idea of a garden, nor better suited or chosen for the climate." Father de Premare 

 says, " it is one of the most beautiful spectacles in the world ;" and indeed it is not easy 

 for a mere European traveller to conceive the magnificence of palm-trees and plantains 

 in their native climates. Whether this garden still exists, we have not been able to learn, 

 but as it doubtless contributed to introduce the horticultural productions of Europe to 

 this part of the globe, it deserves to be remembered with gratitude to its founders. 



The only indigenous fruits of the Cape, as already observed (496.), are the chestnut, and two stone fruits. 

 Those that have been introduced into the colony are the grape, apple, cherry, plum, peach, nectarine, 

 apricot, fig, orange, lemon, citron, pomegranate, almond, mulberry, guava, melon, and in short all the 

 fruits esteemed by Europeans. No grapes of Europe are considered preferable to those of this colony. 

 The colony of Capetown consists chiefly of vine-growers. They are of French extraction, possess farms 

 of about 190 English acres, and the culture of the grape, with an elegant garden, generally occupies the 

 whole. The lands are surrounded and divided by oak and quince hedges ; and the vines, cultivated as in 

 France and Germany, have the appearance of plantations of raspberries. The Cape-market is richly 

 supplied from these gardens. Between Table Bay and False Bay, are the two farms producing the Con- 

 stantia wine. Here most of the above fruits thrive ; but gooseberries, currants, plums, and cherries do 

 not succeed at all 



The ornamental plants of the Cape are well known ; to them we are indebted for almost all our heaths, 

 ixias, diosmas, pelargonums, and many other genera. (Kingdom's British Colonies, p. 81.) 



503. New South Wales. There are two colonies established in this extensive territory 

 and its adjoining islands; the one at Sidney, in 1788, and the other at Van Diemen's 

 Land some years afterwards. The botanical riches of New South Wales, and the singu- 

 lar aspect of the native plants, are well known. There are gardeners and botanists esta- 



