11 



seed, and requires a sheltered situation, as it is liable to 

 suffer severely from cold in winter. In good situations it 

 assumes a beatiful umbrella shaped habit, but never loses 

 its herbaceous character. 



Sizigium jambolana which produces fruits shaped 

 like an olive, suitable for pickling, and Achras Sapota 

 have been recently introduced in the Island but have not 

 yet fruited. Feijoa Sellowiana, an evergreen Myrtaceous 

 shrub from South America, nearly allied to the Guava, 

 has been introduced in 1903 and fruits abundantly every 

 year. The shrub is ornamental on account of its pink 

 flowers with long red stamens. The fruit is highly per- 

 fumed and is said to be good for pickling. This shrub is 

 easily propagated by seed or by layers. Various species 

 of Eugenia have been introduced in our gardens during 

 the last twenty years, but they all failed to agree with 

 our calcareous soil. 



Attempts to grow the coco-nut (Cocos nucifera L.} 

 have failed altogether, as all the imported plants died 

 off in the first winter. The coffee shrub (Coffea arabica 

 L.) was grown and fruited several times, and at one time 

 there were hundreds of plants at San Antonio Gardens 

 raised from seed brought over from Brazil, but the coffee 

 shrub can be grown here only as an object of curiosity 

 and at considerable trouble. 



It is not easy to give a proper definition of a 

 "fruit tree". In the popular sense a fruit tree is a tree 

 grown chiefly for the sake of its fruit, which is used as 

 food in any way whatever or even as condiment. In 

 this sense the bitter almond and the Seville or bitter 

 orange are fruit trees, the uneatable seed or kernels of 

 the one and the rind and juice of the fruit of the other 

 being used as condiment. The carob-bean or locust is 

 chiefly or entirely fed to animals, although it is also 

 sometimes used as food, and it cannot be denied that it 

 is a real fruit tree in the popular sense. On the other 



