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A US TRA LA SI A ILL US TRA TED. 



its cool shade, looking up through its latticed roof to the distant glimpses of the soft 

 blue sky. Surrounding this celebrated pine are many gorgeous trees hibiscus with 

 crimson trumpet-shaped blooms, flame-trees with flowers as scarlet as feathers from a 

 flamingo's breast, tulip-trees and magnolias from China and Japan, lovely jacarandas from 

 South America ; and by the side of these droop graceful English willows, the whole 

 group giving a perpetually varying contrast of colour and form of foliage. Nearer to 

 the Harbour waters are shaded knolls commanding lovely views of the Cove, its waters 

 flecked on summer holidays with countless white sails ; in the near distance Government 

 House rises behind its well-grown and tastefully-grouped trees like a baronial castle set 

 in some English park. Close to the sea-wall, which sweeps in a bold curve from 

 "Mrs. Macquarie's Chair" to the man-o'-war steps at Fort Macquarie, is a continuous 

 soft carpet of buffalo grass a great promenade of green, which, despite the tread of 

 innumerable feet, maintains its freshness and elasticity. 



To the botanist the great range of vegetation represented in these Gardens is 

 exceedingly interesting. The coffee-plant is seen growing side by side with the mango, 

 the elm and the lime-tree, and our own knrrajongs by the palms of the Islands. 



Dammaras and arancarias 

 are as luxuriant and grand 

 as in their native homes. 

 The great majority of 

 English flowers come to 

 perfection, though some that 

 love the damp thickets and 

 six months' winters of the 

 old world cannot withstand 

 the too-abundant sunshine. 

 Rhododendrons manage to 

 flower, but azaleas seem to 

 revel in the richness of their 

 genial surroundings. Of 

 English trees, poplars and 

 elms thrive well, the horse- 

 chestnut and hornbeam but 

 poorly, and the beech and 

 ash barely exist. The oaks 

 annually throw out good 

 foliage, but do not seem 

 likely to produce anything 

 worthy the name of timber. 



The hearts of oak so famed in song and story will never be truly Australian on the 

 low land, for the trunks tend to become pipy in twenty years. The trees indi- 

 genous to high altitudes and excessively moist localities fail to display the vigour 

 and beauty natural to their proper habitats. Some trees native to Australia also object 

 to the cool sea-breezes and the rays of a semi-tropical sun ; sassafras struggles, as do 



A WALK IN THE BOTANIC GARDENS. 



