262 IN THE GUIANA FOREST. 



plants, but hitherto we have been unable to find a 

 satisfactory answer. 



Nevertheless, from the very fact that we are not 

 successful in preserving our gardens from the many 

 pests which ravage them, they are all the more 

 interesting to the naturalist. A greenhouse, where 

 everything looks clean and tidy, may be more 

 pleasant from one point of view, but if we want 

 to understand the true meaning of the struggle 

 for existence we must carefully observe what is 

 going on in the tropical garden. When we shut 

 up our beauties in glass houses, even if the insects 

 and seeds of parasites are to be found outside, they 

 cannot enter to disturb the plants. Here, however, 

 in the open, every little difficulty and trouble is 

 patent, and even when we do our very best to help 

 them they often suffer. 



A well-laid-out garden is no doubt very pleasant 

 to the eyes, but after all there is always more or 

 less of the artificial element introduced. We trim 

 and prune until often every bush and tree grows in 

 an unnatural shape, dwarfed, stunted, or lop-sided. 

 Even the removal of parasites entails more or less 

 deformity, as we cut away a branch because the 

 loranths have taken possession of it, or spoil the 

 shape of a palm to destroy the scale insects. Then, 

 again, if we do not want our best specimens 



