K 



THE GAEPJ8NERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Akmi 2S 



of di 



little 



a uil> deposit* a by 



place ; the upper pai t was nnx 





river adja- 

 cent the place ; the upper part was mixed with the 

 abort dun fr i an exhausted Mushroom hed. The 

 whole waa wed ealted, the bed was raised about 

 24 feet above the surface, and the Asparagus planted 

 During the summer, and until late in the autumn, the 

 Asparagus was pretty nearly pushed out of the ground by 

 immense clusters (if Mushrooms. I regret not keeping 

 an account ot the number of bushels gathered. No 

 prote :i was given to the Asparagus bed during the 

 winter, ami I concluded that frost and snow, and other 

 limatic influences, had ended my trouble with Mush- 



and annual construction of beds formed of horse-drop- 



pings an«l (rusts of soil, why should we not form a per- 

 manent bed to last several | ears, and afford a perennial 

 supply of what M. Soyer calls the Pearl of the Fields? 

 W. I, . Ikh Castle, April 26*. [The peeimene 



were very fi in all respe< , and completely answered 

 to Mr. Ingram's description.] 



At either entrance of this town there » a gallow erected 

 to keep the people in reinembm.ee of the reward attend- 

 ng their ,ood!feeJs. After leaving Sacualpa we came 

 info pretty ndabtb* ravines, in one of winch, on ar.ver 

 side, P I found the pretty ,hrub No. 5 (• ^'^ "f" 

 Butichoaia), and an immense quantity of Orch.ds- 

 Brawavolas g>a«ca and vennsta, Brass.a verrucosa, 

 remarkably fine plants ; Cyrtoe. maculatum, Lycaste 

 cruenta, Oncid. leucochilum, &c-as many of these 

 ,,„„ts as would load a ship in three miles stance, 

 Lile, as we ascended a little higher we found m 



addition Barkeria Skinner., now in glor.ous flower. 



— ~ 4,^1 m masses, 



sineie^small plants, duc most uhuui.ju in Us colours ; 

 and I observe the colder the climate the finer the colour, 

 not too shady in its habitat, and yet not much exposed 

 to the sun. The natives make collections and place 



on the trees before their doors in masses to 



them 



of 



Foreign Correspondence. 



Gvatema i.a, Dt 1 854**— You have enclosed a fewseeds 

 of the Scarlet Antigomim. It is a glorious creeper, and 

 now in full bloom; but perfectly indescribable for irs 

 luxuriance. A plant I -is;ht years old has its great 

 elephantine like bulbs, from which springs, in this 

 nstance, a stem as thick as my arm at the elbow^ some 



* feet ng, turning round anil round an Annua tret 

 and sprea/i'mi' over the lop of the tree, some M feet 

 high and 14 feet in diainet« a canopy of scarlet and 

 preen while, not content with this, il has caught the 

 corridor of the house, and also covered a space '20 feet 

 loner, han^injf a curtain of ll) feet deep of Fcarlet 

 Streamers. The old lady In whose house this splendid 

 sp nnen is growing has given me a couple of hulbs,(?) with 

 their yon ng shoots all in prime order ; at this season of 

 the year I have great hopes it will preserve its vege- 

 tating properties till it reach t-s England. I packed them 

 in the leutical soil where growing, in a box, along with 

 a yellow I juco (probably a 'ialphimia), equally curious, 

 and sent them off by thtl packet. These plants are 

 natives of our coasts here, climate about 75° ; but they 

 thrive here after 6 years' acclimatation ° to 68°, 

 which is necewary before they Hower, so do not be dis- 

 appointed if the first year does not produce flowers. 

 One thing I observed in un pot ting the present specimen 

 — at the end of the numerous fibres on the bulb were 

 20 or ) small bulbs, or literally Potatoes, covered with 

 small fibres. AH these, I expect, will produce plants, 

 and if so you will have a supply. My wish is that even 

 thing I know here as fine may be common in my native 

 land. OftheEpidendrummyrianthuinyou mention, I have 

 fine plants to go by next packet. Warcsevicz never saw 

 this plant, or if he did he never could 

 as its habitat is 60 leagues from this, My impres- 

 sion is that the only plants of it that could ever 

 have gone were some which some other Belgian could 



not pay the freight on, and which S bought 



for 13/., and sold them by auction at Stevens', and I 

 recollect seeing them there sell for 30s. and 40.*. each 











& et it to England 



Epid. po yanthum. But you have my drawing of 

 the colours and a specimen in spirits, and remember it 



sell the flowers for the ornamenting the altars 

 the churches at Christmas ; but principally the day 

 of the Conception, December 8, which gives a ver- 

 nacular Fhr de la Conception and Flor de Paacua, by 

 both of which names this really pretty Orchid is known 

 in this country. About two leagues from A sacualpa we 

 descend a steep hill, and come on very extensive plains, 

 which continue till we reach the river Paz, which 

 crossing we again ascend a alight acclivity of limestone 

 rocks, where the only vegetation is Grasses and Pines. 

 On one side of the road, having dismounted, I found the 

 Mimosa seeds, No. 63, a very pretty sensitive plant, 

 forming a bank which on my approach was all set in 

 motion. Continuing through now a region of scoria; and 

 Acacias, stunted Mimosas, &c, we crossed another 

 beautiful river, and entered on a magnificent plain 

 with a great many trees of the Crescentiad family, on 

 which I found in immense quantities Liclia acuminata, 

 while the hillocks which from time to time rose on this 

 plain bore quantities of the Maguey, some in flower 

 climate 60° to 75°. We got to the town of Jutiapa at 

 six o'clock, having ridden 12 leagues this day, 30 leagues 



from Guatemala. 



Nov. % — Leaving Jutiapa, which is a considerable 

 town and the head-quarters of the Corregidor of the 

 department, we continued along the plain now in a 

 northerly direction to a village called Achuapa, the 

 country void of trees, and hence no Orchids; but on 

 some fine Acacias in a village called San Chin, I saw 

 enormous masses of Loranths in lull flower, the seeds of 

 which I sent by last packet in gum. [They were all 

 dead upon arrival ] Near Santa Catarina a curious 

 Umbelliferous plant about 6 to 8 feet high, covered 

 with fruit, attracted my attention much— seeds No. 72. 

 We stopped at Santa Catarina, 8 leagues from Jutiapa. 



Nor. 3. — From Santa Catarina ^ to Aguablanea 

 we cross a beautiful river, and now in warm climate 

 pass over scoriated rocks, some places showing beautiful 

 sheets of lava. Principal vegetation Mimosas and 

 Acacias, here and there a solitary Epid. macrochilum 

 roseum. My attention was attracted by a shrub which 

 is really a gem, No. 12 (one of the corollate Euphor- 

 bias). This was without seeds yet, but I hope to 

 receive them from the mines, where I also found it 

 abundantly. The btll sides for leagues shone again 

 with this lovely plant— climate 70°. Also exquisitely 

 beautiful is the Bucaro, No. 108 (another fine Big- 



but only in Oak trees, where the bark8~~were 

 with Moss, Lichen, and Tiliandsias, I found Arponh &Z 

 gigauteum in bloom ; but, as I have often i>Zl* 

 this plant is seen in England as I have seen it n 

 will ever credit its beauty. A specimen can onl T 

 sent in a bottle, as from its habit drying itaniu- 

 appearance. Where I found it luxuriating Wat iTHi 

 damp spots, seldom ever seeing the sun, and 

 subject to frosts at this season, and never *v^» 

 in our hottest weather there than 58° and 6^2 

 Fahr., and oh 1 such colour and such a ^m. ]f 

 flower. In this same habitat I found Odont. 

 turn, but poor and shrivelled; where 10° 

 it was fine. No. 53, a new [yes] Odont., leave* *J 

 bulbs like pulchellum ; 54, a plant like E. arboae«|ta. 

 55 (a new grassy Epidendrum), and 56, with two otfJ 

 distiuct species. I send ail the seeds to Mr. J^ 

 Veitch and the list, and I tell him to send it to m 

 along with the dried specimens, and if there be m. 

 thing which strikes you as remarkable let me km 

 the number and particulars of it, and I can Bend 

 afterwards, as our medical man who accompanied 

 in my expeditions to the Mines I have so far 

 that his leisure time will be given to making coll*, 

 tions of plants, insects, &c., and a finer field I mnt 

 saw ; and sure am I if he experiences half the ykum 

 I have enjoyed in travelling through these countries b 

 will find his time delightfully employed, tf. £'. & 



octette** 



LiNNJBAN, April 3. 



any interested in horticulture before. 



18.51, October 30. — I started in a southerly direction 

 by Arrasola to Qnajiniquilapa, where I breakfasted the 

 following day. Near Arrasola abounds Odontoglossum 

 bicaHo m, O. lrove, climate 60° and 6o°. Towards 

 M los Verdes" I found the evergreen seeds No. 110, the 

 plants dried specimens Nos. 1 (a charming yellow Big- 

 nonia), 2 and 9 (a pretty Melastomad), with seeds of 

 the two last under same numbers ; the climate of these 

 hist getting warn r as I descended the mountain of los 

 Verdes to Cerro redondo, 11 leagues, where I slept. 

 Next morning, .'51st October, passed through Mai pais, 

 where the i station is almost coast ; near a rivulet 

 enormous Marants ; and of Orchids only Oncid. 

 sphacelatum, Notylias, and Oncid. roseum, with lots 

 of Pipers and Mosses, Lichens, &#. Getting out of the 

 forest I picked up seeds No. 5 7, a Leguminc », but not in 

 flower. Breakfasting in Qnajiniquilapa, I saw before 

 the door of the house a fine lump of Oncid. Suttoni ; 

 it had a mass of flowers. We now kept an easieriy 

 direction to Esckvos, and crossed the river of that 

 name, and on towards El Oratorio, the road through a 

 dense forest : here we have fine plants of Cattleya 

 Skinneri, Epid. Stain ford ianum, Cjcnoehes Egertoni- 

 anum, Notylias, Oncid. sphaceiatum, and Epid. macro- 

 chilum roseum, with Stanhopeas venusta and saccata. 

 I put up \n a village four leagues from Quajini- 

 quiiapa, called the Guapinol, from the circumstance of 

 Several trees of that fruit growing here, and, 1st 

 November, started again in a northerly direction 

 up a steep m< -amain covered with trees and Chios, 

 such as [ mentioned yesterday, and in addition 

 Sophronitis cernua. We ascended some 1600 feet into 



region of solely Pine trees, and about 200 feet higher 

 came on splendid Oaks all covered with Orchids, prin- 

 cipally Oncid. V* entworthianum, Epid. eiectutn stria- 

 tum, and Lycaste cruenta, with Stanhope* venm-ta— 

 climate about 68\ As we proceeded we came upon an 



is as sweet and as handsome in its beautiful cluster as noniad), very common here; but how much I wish they 

 Vanda suavis. Now I will venture to give you a detail ; had this in the conservatory at Chiswick ! I send seeds 

 of my journey to the Alatepeque frontier of Honduras — ! also now, and have often" done before ; but it is very 

 take Mr. Baily's map and I will trace you my route, a \ difficult to preserve them, as you will see, and more so 

 hitherto new one to me, and I question if traversed by to raise them in Europe. We have no finer thing in 



this country than this ; the flowers are always in such 

 dense masses ; it grows about the same size as the 

 Cestrum in the conservatory at Chiswick. From Agua- 

 blanca I found nothing particular till I got to Caguasal- 

 tepeque, where we slept. 



Nov* 4. — Leaving this farm-house, in the intricacy of 

 half a dozen cattle tracks, we lost our way, and I found 

 myself on the summit of a high hill covered with a 

 curious Crass specimen, No. 9 (Ceresia), and also 

 quantities of a pretty pink flower, No. 8 (a Polygala). 

 The>c I found nowhere else. The faces of the rocks 

 covered with Bromelias and Ferns. Climate about 68°. 

 A few Pinui oclira (I) growing, but stunted for want of 

 soil an 1 _reat exposure to a burning sun. Waiting 

 an hour till my servant could find a path to extricate 

 me, I amused myself searching for plants, but nothing? 

 worthy of preserving except the above. By haulm** 

 our mules and climbing we got to a farm-house on the 

 opposite side of the mountain, and thence into the high- 

 road (?) again. Nothing remarkable till we reached 

 la Concepcion, and from there we ascended a league 

 the mountain of Alatepeque to the Mine of San 

 Pantaleon, an elevation of about 5500 feet above 

 the level of the sea. Here I 





remained inspecting 

 metals under ground for three weeks. The ravines 

 on this mountain contain many examples of rare vege- 

 tation, the principal object from its beautiful foliage, 

 the Liquid Amber tree, which grows to all sizes, even 

 to 3 and 4 feet in diameter, and 40 to 60 feet high. But 

 *k and Pines are also equ y abundant. You will 

 find two boar •, which embrace the dried specimens 

 are what we find there most useful for our works. I 

 now refer you to the list of seeds which I collected, 

 where I give % description of their natures and climate, 

 and I feel convinced, from the temperature of the 

 mountains there, a cool greenhouse, if not out of door 

 spring aud summer in England, will be found adapted 

 — : ■■ , , . j— : '-, r— — - "- v»u»c upon an for them. I went to a mountain near, about 1000 feet 



extensive table land all in paeture to the village of | higher, and amongst enormous trees of Sak and I Cedar, 



Lhe rresident in the Gat 

 Specimens of Hierocbloe borealis, gathered by Mr 

 Dick, at Thurso, Caithness, presented by VV. Gowfc, 

 Esq., and of Epipogium aphyllum, gathered by Mi\ 

 Anderton Smith in a woody dingle on the banks of Sifej 

 Brook, Tedstone, Herefordshire, in July, 1854, pi* 

 sented by E. Lees, Esq., were placed on the tabl- 

 together with pods of Wistaria sinensis, and other fmi» 

 from China, presented by D* Han bury, Esq. The ex- 

 clusion of Mr. Bunbury's remarks on the botany of 

 Madeira and Teneriffe was read. This portion of the 

 paper referred to the botany of Teneriffe. At Saia 

 Crws, Mr. Bnnbury remarks, a very singular appeartwe 

 is given to the littoral mountains by the round palegwn 

 bushes or clumps of Euphorbia canariensis, which ire 

 dotted over them in such a way as to produce a curitmlj 

 spotty effect, that strikes the eye at a considmWi 

 distance. On the rugged cliffs eastward of the tow, 

 and at the mouths of the little valleys which internet 

 them, the peculiarly exotic character of the vegetalta 

 — much more strikingly so than that of Funchal-- is * 

 once apparent. There is the Euphorbia canarin^ 

 closely resembling the succulents of Caffraria; the 

 singular and graceful Plocama pendula, a thorou»My 

 Canarian type ; and the Kleinia neriifolia, and Euphor- 

 bia piscatoria. These four plants give the distinctm 

 botanical physiognomy to this part of the coast Toe 

 deep valleys on the coast north east of Santa Craz aw 

 full of interest. The steep rugged hills are dotted oi* 

 with the Euphorbias, Kleinias, &c. ; and higbefj 

 where the valley narrows the rocks are covered «■■ 

 Selaginella denticulata. Several Ferns grow °a» 

 rocks, in particular Nothochhena Maraud, Cetera^ 

 aureum (which Mr. Bunbury thinks a variety ot t. 

 officinarum) Gymnogramma leptophylla, Aiiiantum » 

 pillus Veneris, Davallia canadensis and ^fl*" 

 vulgare. Humboldt was certainly misinformed*!* 

 he restricted the list of Ferns found in the re?K*f 

 the Vine in Teneriffe to two Acrostichums (-W 

 chlaanje), and an Ophioglossum. The six above-meowj 

 all grow within the region of Euphorbias, .**jJEd 

 below its upper limit. The beautiful ^g ^^ 

 Orotava, on the north-west coast, has quite a * ^ 

 botanical character. As the climate is 1« ^^ 

 more temperate, so the vegetation has less of an ^ 

 aspect. The great abundance of Date * %lm *^ tf 

 valley of Orotava, and some of the other ™£^ 

 that coast forms a striking feature in the (* ^ 

 though the Phoenix does not appear to be inai ^^. 

 Teneriffe. The Dracama is a BCawl * JT & 

 spicuous feature in the scenery, but tnou| ^ 

 genous to the island, almost all the trer ^^ 

 occur in this valley are cultivated. 

 Dragon tree of Villa de Oratava, so ^^ 



through Humboldt's description, is still m f* .^ 

 a ruin, indeed, but a noble ruin ; its fol ^^l^fA, 

 and flourishing, but the tree has been tnuco ^ 

 and has lost many branches within the m ^^ 

 By Mr. Bunbury 's measurement, the part i jp 

 entire of the trunk is 30 feet round. in *f tbe b#* 

 to edge of the hollow, and the width *&<**. 8 i frf 

 is 12 feet ; this measurement was V***^**? 

 above the roots. Another tree, jl^ 8blD » l|t B^ 

 rati vely young, which stands beside a can" 

 de Arriba, had a trunk 14 feet **^* £ 

 ference at 4 feet from the ground, low $ 



About the levei ^ 



The 

 well 



kno**- 



mos. 



*r<**; 



company wi 



banks and stone walls. Polypodia* 



vuil* 1 * 



> 



uhuks anu sione w»ur>. ~-vr mf A( Wa, "* ."a^ 

 Davallia canadensis are here, as m *'• ^ ><£ 

 „u-«^^* u«iU.. i^ V tr»«ncrramma le l l F 'j J^f^ 



dium elongaturo, frequent ami nne. ^ 

 occur here and there at a much lowex 



desceD* 



■** 





Garachico, the Aspienium H^^^ ^d ** 

 the sea-shore. Pteris longifolia 







