OPEN LETDE Ra 
THE TROPICAL LABORATORY. 
UNEXPECTEDLY I have had the opportunity of visiting several of the 
West Indian islands, and of comparing their botanical possibilities in a super- 
ficial way. The readers of the GAZETTE may find of interest a few state- 
ments regarding the principal regions, in their bearing upon the tropical 
biological station which was under consideration. 
Jamaica lies six days south of New York, and it requires fifty dollars to 
pay for the steamer cabin; Trinidad is eight days, and a cabin costs seventy- 
five dollars. 
There can be no question to one who has seen other tropical regions that, 
while Jamaica has the more beautiful scenery, Trinidad possesses a far mort 
luxurious vegetation. The difference in luxuriance is similar to that betwest 
the vegetation of Fiji and Samoa, and does not consist so much in the differ- 
ence of species as in their development. The valleys and hillsides of Jamaica 
are covered with the most graceful imaginable patches of bamboo (2. 
_garis), standing as monuments to the value of early attempts at ee 
introduction ; the valleys of Trinidad are shaded by gigantic clumps of € 
e them in the 
most charming way. Scattered through the gorgeously colored . 
the hillsides in Trinidad are innumerable palms, which raise their a 
above the surrounding trees and shrubs; lianas are abundant, and ney © 
precipitous cliffs like a tattered lace curtain. The streams of Jamaica c 
between mountains that are much higher than those of Triad 
tation of the hillsides is distinctly luxuriant, and, from a scenic standpo! 
superior to Trinidad. : 
Unfortunately for Jamaica the money appropriated for prep e oe 
gardens in the mountains; the old garden at Bath, now 64 
Castle gardens, now only cared for by a gardener who s - half hour's 
week upon the ground; and the so-called Hope gardens, iiticooe 11 kept UP 
ride of Kingston by electric train. The Castleton gardens snd cota 
quite limited number of plants. The fine Cohune pa ‘sie oe 
America, teak, brazilnut trees, a Carnahuba palm from Brazil, 
tilloa, Manihot Glaziovii and other rubber-bearing plants, a 
gorgeous flowered A mherstia nobilis, Spathodea campanulata, 0 some of ! 
East Indian durian, carambola, and mangosteen fruit trees form 
principal curiosities. basi 
320 
Bt RNR SF Ae 
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