EXOTICS IN COKNWALL. 317 



succeeding year the health-restoring qualities of the Cornish 

 climate is becoming a greater source of wealth to the inhabitants 

 by attracting those who have the wisdom to " read, mark, learn, 

 and inwardly digest" the evidence offered by eminent physicians 

 and careful meteorologists, but, above all, by the testimony 

 furnished by gardens and grounds which are the pride of the 

 west. 



To fuUy appreciate what has been done in the Falmouth- 

 Truro district of Cornwall in the way of acclimatising half-hardy 

 and sub-tropical plants, it will be necessary to look at some of 

 the more important gardens in detail. 



AT PENJERRICK, 

 which every Oornishman knows as a bit of the tropics come up 

 to Britain for an airing, the judicious introduction of an exotic 

 flora has produced a scene as ravishing and romantic as any bit 

 of fairyland. If anywhere in Cornwall, it is here that the 

 wizardry and abandon of nature are felt to the full. Under the 

 influences of the genial breezes which play up the dell, sub- 

 tropical vegetation bourgeons with an exuberance startling to a 

 degree. Plants which are the glory of the equatorial belt here 

 attain the dimensions of giants ; others which refuse to lay on 

 colour in some of the neighbouring counties become in their 

 season rich cascades of bloom. Bamboos and Palms are grown 

 in this little Eden of fertility as easily as weeds, and as tall as 

 some of the trees in the neighbouring woods ; and scores of real 

 greenhouse subjects put forth branch, and leaf, and flower, with 

 an amazing prodigality. Of the many good things which the 

 late Miss Fox and her predecessors introduced into Penjerrick, 

 mention can be made of only the following : — 



Acanthus mollis. 



,, spinosus. 

 Bamboos in variety. 

 Benthamia fragif era. 

 Callistemons, in variety. 

 Cassia corymbosa. 

 Chamserops excelsa 

 Cistus in variety. 

 Qotoneaster frigida. 



