Review of Loudon'' s Gardener^ s Magazine. 147 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. The Gardener's Magazine, and Register of Rural and Do- 

 mestic Improvement. Conducted by J. C. Loudon, Esq., F. L. S. 

 H. S. &c. In Monthly Numbers, 8vo. Is. 6d. each. No. LVIII. 

 for January. 



The number for January, 1835, of this excellent Magazine, ap- 

 pears with several improvements. Under the head of Pomological, 

 Abhorticultural, Floricultural and Olitorial Notices, the indefatigable 

 conductor intends to furnish his readers with an account of all new 

 and choice fruits, rare shrubs and trees, new flowers and new vege- 

 tables, worthy of cultivation in the fruit garden, pleasure ground, 

 flower border, or kitchen garden. The conductor has made such 

 arrangements with Mr Thompson, of the London Horticultural So- 

 ciety's Garden, and Mr. Barnet, of the Horticultural Society of Ed- 

 inburgh, as will enable him to give all the information possible on 

 these subjects. , 



The first article is a " brief account of Mr. Colley's Botanical Re- 

 searches in Guiana," by James Bateman, Esq., who sent Mr. Col- 

 ley out to collect Orchideous plants. To those of our readers who 

 are interested in reading some of the peculiarities of plants, we ex- 

 tract the following, as showing the habits of that singular tribe gener- 

 ally termed Epiphytes : — 



" I shall now attempt," says the writer, " to convey some idea of the aspect 

 of vefjfetation on the banks of the Demarara; which, though not so large a 

 stream as tiie Essequibo, Massarotii, Corgooni, Berbice, and other rivers which 

 were afterwards visiteil, partakes more or le.ss of the characters of them all. 

 Tiie forest (or, as it is there called, ''the hush ") usually hangs over, or ap- 

 proaclics near to, the stream ; and, to a Ein'0|)eaM eye, wears a rich but rather 

 monotonous aspect; rt'lieved only by the "crowned heads" of the majestic 

 palms, or the broad-spreading foliage of the banana. If we except the " silk 

 cotton tree," the trunk of wliich is found of prodigious diameter, the trees 

 are not usually of very large growth : indeed the redundance of vegetation, 

 while it contributes to the denseness of the forest, must naturally have a ten- 

 dency to diminish the size of the individuals of which it is formed. The 

 "bush rope," and many splendid climbers hang in light and elegant drapery 

 round the higher j)arts of the trees; while their trutd<s and lower branches 

 actually bristle with the various species of Tillandsi^, Orchidea?, ^rtiidejB, 

 and ferns, among which the right of "tree room" is divided, the Tillandst'tE 

 having the largest share. Epi|)hyllum speciosum is also found growing as 

 an epiphyte, but has never a vigorous appearance. 



"Flourishing as the various epiphytes appear, and securely seated as they 

 seem to be out of the reach of liarm, there is, nevertheless, a war of exter- 

 mination continually going on among themselves, as violent as that of the 

 wild l)easts which rove beneath their feet. The seed of an orciiideons plant 

 vegetates on some naked portion of a tree; pseudo-bulb after pseudo-bulb 

 is formed, and the plant in time arrives at maturity, and begins to bloom ; 

 presendy, a rapidly spreading fern advances up the branch, and fixing its un- 



