612 



NATURE 



[August 14, 191; 



Kirstenbosch, the site selected, is peculiarly 

 favourable lor the purpose, and affords scope for 

 the development of a singularly beautiful South 

 African garden. It is a farm on the Rhodes 

 estates, to the south of Groote Schur, on the 

 eastern slopes of Table Mountain. It contains 

 the ruins of at least three old homesteads, and 

 was probably occupied very early in the history 

 of the settlement of this portion of the Cape 

 Peninsula. The country seat of Van Riebeek, the 

 first Dutch Governor (1652-1662), adjoins Kirsten- 

 bosch on its eastern boundary, and, according to 

 tradition, Van Riebeek obtained from the latter 

 a large supply of native woods for building 

 purposes. 



The survey of the Kirstenbosch estate is not 

 yet completed ; its area is probably about 400 

 acres. Of this, the eastern half consists of flat 

 or slightly undulating land, about 200 ft. above 

 sea-level. Above this the western half rises to 

 about 1000 or 1500 ft. The latter includes the 

 lower ends of three richly wooded gorges, in which 

 the native vegetation during recent years has been 

 little interfered with except bv occasional fires. 

 The lower-lying parts have been heavily planted 

 with pines (P. pinaster and P. pinea), oaks, and 

 poplars. Here the native bush has been mostly 

 exterminated. The poplars have completely taken 

 ion of considerable areas. The oaks, most 

 of which were pollarded many years ago, have 

 been altogether neglected, and now, with few 

 exceptions, are in an advanced state of decay. 



The underlying rock, except perhaps in the most 

 elevated parts of the estate, is granite. The 

 slopes, however, are for the most part strewn 

 with blocks of Table Mountain sandstone, fallen 

 from above. Along one edge of the area there is 

 believed to be an outcrop of Malmesbury slates. 

 Many acres are overlain by a rich denosit of 

 humus derived mainly from the oaks and the 

 poplars. The water supply is exceptionally good. 

 Two of the streams from the adjacent gorges, 

 traversing the whole breadth of the estate, are 

 permanent, and a spring, issuing about 200 ft. 

 above the eastern boundary, is perennial. It will 

 therefore be a matter of no great difficulty to irri- 

 gate as much of the cultivated land as may be 

 necessary. In the cultivation of South African 

 vegetation the importance of aspect is very con- 

 siderable. Kirstenbosch offers a choice which is 

 unlimited, save towards the west (where it is shut 

 in by the lower slopes of Table Mountain), and 

 also, of course, there is no direct exposure to the 

 sea. Another factor which calls for careful con- 

 sideration is that of wind. The well-known 

 Cape South-Easter, which is of frequent occur- 

 rence during the season of most active growth and 

 of flowering, has a most injurious effect upon very 

 many species. Owing to the curvature of the 

 Table Mountain range between Mowbray 

 and Muizenberg, and the situation of Kirsten- 

 bosch in the curve, the south-east wind 

 rarely reaches it. 



Kirstenbosch, therefore, possesses a combina- 

 tion of natural features which make it eminently 

 NO. 2285, VOT. 91] 



suitable for the cultivation and study of a very 

 large proportion of the varied floras of South 

 Africa. It already bears several hundreds of 

 species more or less representative of the Cape 

 region itself. Experience already obtained of the 

 cultivation in the Cape Peninsula of dry-climate 

 species from Xamaqualand and the central 

 plateau, and of sub-tropical forms from the south- 

 eastern coast belt, affords no room for doubt that 

 many of these also will find a suitable home side by 

 side with the flora of Table Mountain and the 

 adjacent Cape Flats. 



The control of the garden is vested in a board 

 of five trustees, to which the following have been 

 nominated by the Government : — Lord de Villiers, 

 Sir David Graaff, Sir Lionel Phillips. Two 

 further nominations are yet to be made, one by 

 the Corporation of Cape Town, and another by 

 the Botanical Society of South Africa, consti- 

 tuted for the purpose of giving general and 

 financial support to the project. 



The trustees have made the following appoint- 

 ments : — Hon. director, Prof. H. H. W. Pearson ; 

 secretary, Miss H. J. Davison. Plans for a 

 director's residence and a laboratory have been 

 approved. A gardening staff will be apoointed 

 immediately. 



WIRELESS TIME SIGNALS. 



IN the Annuaire for 1913 of the Paris Bureau 

 des Longitudes will be found a full account 

 by Commandant Ferrie of the development of 

 wireless time-signalling. 



For a long period in the past local time was 

 the only requirement of this kind, until the dis- 

 covery of America rendered the determination of 

 longitude at sea a matter of great practical im- 

 portance, thus making the knowledge of the time 

 on a fixed meridian as necessary as that of local 

 time. The growth of railway enterprise in the 

 nineteenth century made the adoption of standard 

 time over large districts an obvious convenience, 

 with the result that different countries adopted 

 their own standard time, and Paris time, for 

 instance, was made legal time throughout France 

 in March, 1891. The subsequent gradual adop- 

 tion of Greenwich time, or time differing from 

 Greenwich by an exact number of hours or half- 

 hours, has continued until the present time, 

 France, only so recently as March, 191 1, substitu- 

 ting Greenwich time for Paris time throughout 

 France and Algeria. 



The accurate determination of local time (or 

 Greenwich time altered by a constant) comes into 

 the domain of practical astronomy, and is respon- 

 sible for a considerable amount of routine work, 

 especially at Government observatories. The 

 difference of longitude between two stations, in- 

 cluding, for instance, the "constant" mentioned 

 above, has provided a problem the solution of 

 which has steadily progressed towards accuracy 

 since the invention of the electric telegraph ; but 

 for any place not in telegraphic communication 

 with a fixed observatory the Greatest stride in 



