IN THE TROPICAL GARDEN. 259 



strip itself entirely for a few months, would succeed. 

 But no ; it can only drop its leaves a little sooner 

 than usual, and bring out new ones to be quickly 

 covered like the others. 



The Barbados cherry, like the mango, is a 

 foreigner in British Guiana. It is one of the 

 strongest shrubs in our gardens, and is commonly 

 used for hedges. So rampant is it in its growth 

 that it bears cutting to almost any extent. You 

 look at it closely, but can find no signs of weak- 

 ness, and would expect it to be free from the 

 attacks of the mango pest, and would be right. 

 But everywhere about our gardens is the deadly 

 loranth, and the cherry falls an easy victim from 

 its very luxuriance. A dry, hard, and juiceless 

 tree would be of little use to such a blood-sucker ; 

 it likes those that are fat. The more sap the longer 

 the bush or tree can stand the continual depletion, 

 and this is well exemplified now. As the loranth 

 winds its aerial roots round branch after branch, 

 and applies its sucking disks one after another, you 

 see the little plant grow bigger and bigger, until it 

 covers and obliterates its victim altogether. Mean- 

 while, however, to escape destruction, it takes firm 

 hold of a neighbour and repeats the same operation 

 with that also. It naturally follows that in many 

 cases it comes to the ground, but meanwhile it has 



