Oct. 27, 1855.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHROMCLE. 



711 





"Can any man, when describing the 'fertility f of . large, can compensate to n he I ots of home, and friends, , successful in produ ng new and go.*d ?m i of 



Ceylon, be aware tliat newly cleared forest-land will and early association-, 

 only produce one crop of the miserable grain called throu 

 fcorrakan ? Can he understand why the greater portion 

 f Ceylon is covered by dense thorny jungles? Ic is 

 simplv this, that the land is so desperately poor, that it 

 will only produce one crop, and thus an immense acre- 

 age is required for the support of a few inhabitants; 

 thus from a^es past up to the present time, the natives 

 have been continually felling fresh forest aud deserting 

 the last clearing which has accordingly grown into a 

 dense thorny jungle, forming what are termed the 

 'Cnenars* of Ceylon. So fully aware are the natives of 

 the impossibility of getting more than one crop out of 

 the land, that they plant all that they require at the 

 same time. Thus may be seen in a field of korrakan 

 (a small grain), Indian Corn, Millet, and Pumpkins, all 

 growing together, and harvested as they respectively 

 become ripe." 



This is by no means encouraging to an emigrant. 

 And then Mr. Baker goes on to say that the attention 

 of the Colonial Government is wholly absorbed by 

 Coffee cultivation, to the total neglect of Rice, the great 

 staple of the island. 



"Nevertheless*, the great capabilities of Ceylon for 

 the cultivation of this all important ' staff of life* are 

 entirely neglected by the government. The tanks 

 which afforded a supply of water for millions in former 

 ages now lie idle and out of repair ; the pelican sails in 

 solitude upon their waters, and the crocodile basks 

 upon their shores ; the thousands of acres which 

 formerly produced Rice for a dense population, are 

 now matted over by a thorny and impenetrable jungle. 

 The wild buffalo descendant from the ancient stock 

 which tilled the ground of a great nation, now roams 

 through barren forests, which in olden times was a 

 soil glistening with fertility. The ruins of the mighty 

 cities tower high above the trees, sad monuments of 

 desolation, where all was once flourishing, and where 

 thousands dwelt within their walls. All are passed 

 away ; and in the wreck of past ages we trace the great 

 resources of the country which produced sufficient food 

 to support millions ; while for the present compara- 

 tively small population, Ceylon is dependant upon 

 imports." 



*' These tanks are of various extent, and extremely 

 numerous throughout Ceylon. The largest are those of perhaps 



This feeling is peculiarly strong 

 hout the British nation. You cannot convince 

 an English settler that he will be abroad for an indefi- 

 nite number of years ; the idea would be equivalent to 

 transportation : he consoles himself with the hope that 

 something will turn up to alter the apparent certaiuty 

 of his exile ; and in this hope, with his miud ever fixed 

 upou his return, he does nothing lor p osteri ty in the 

 cohny. He rarely even plants a fruit-tree, hoping 

 that his stay will not allow him to gather from it. 

 This accounts for the poverty of the gardens and 

 enclosures around the houses of the English inhabi- 

 tants, and the general dearth of auy fruits worth 

 eating. How different is the appearance of French 

 colonies, and how different are the feelings of the 

 settler ! The word < adieu p once spoken, he sighs an 

 eternal farewell to the shores of fc La belle France,' 

 and, with the natural light-hearted a ess of the nation, 

 he settles cheerfully in a colony as his adopted country. 

 He lays out his grounds with taste, aud plants groves 

 of exquisite fruit-trees, whos^ produce will, he hopes, 

 he tasted by his children and g ndchddreu. Accord- 

 ingly, in a French colony there is a tropical beauty in 

 the cultivated trees and flowers, which is ttldom seen 

 in our own possessions. The fruits are brought to perfec- 

 tion, as there is the sanvj care taken in pruning and 

 grafting the finest kinds as in gardens in England." 



It must be confessed that this is not complimentary 

 to our countrymen. But we must pause ; to return to 

 these pleasant pages hereafter. We have only space to 

 add ttiat tne reader who merely seeks tor a lew hours' 

 amusement will hud Mr, Baker's book full of eutertain- 

 ing anecdotes concerning tne people, the hunting, the 

 shooting, and all the out ot door pursuits of beautiful 

 Taprobane ; whits he who is seeking tor an emigrant's 

 home in a tropical island will gather a rich harvest ot 

 sterling information concerning die farming, the miuiug, 

 and other industrial occupations of the island. 



G-arden Memoranda. 



Messrs. Paul's Nursery, Cheshunt. — In addition 



to an extensive collection of Roses which this nursery 

 is well know u to contain, on visiting it the other day 

 we noticed several other things to which atteutiun may 



_ be usefully directed. In the herbaceous 



ICiiBtiri* the Giant's borders five or six varieties of Aster were literally 



Tank. These are from 1 5 to 25 miles in circumference ; masses of flower, rendering them almost as gay now asm 

 but in former times, when the sluices were in repair , the height of summer. A. niult.norus,a kind with Heath- 



like foliage and small white flowers, was especially con- 

 spicuous, and there were some blue sorts equdly valuable 

 for autumn decoration. Requiring as these plants do, so 

 little care or labour in their culture, it is surprising that 

 they are not more cultivated than they are. Anemone 

 japonica and its paler-coloured hybrids are also plants 

 that flower very showily at this season. A blue Sage, 

 which we saw here, called Salvia Lilleana, might like- 

 wise be added with advantage to the winter garden. 

 It is a hardy Continental kind, which is as yet but little 

 known. Nor in looking for autumn flowering plants 

 should Oxalis fioribunda be forgotten, for it will keep 

 in bloom from July up to Christmas ; and where there 

 is a little shelter what can be gayer at this season than 

 O. Bowei, whose round bright rosy blossoms are a 

 large as a shilling, and produced iu such abundance as 

 to be striking and effective even at a distance ? This 

 variety is however not so hardy as fioribunda, and suc- 

 ceeds best on a warm dry border by the side of a wall. 

 Tauetes lucida, with golden yellow flowers, is also a 

 useful plant at this time of year, and to the above must 

 likewise be added different sorts of Phloxes, some one or 

 other of which is in flower almost every month iu th 

 season. With the above and Delphiniums, among which 



—«™v. S i WU „ «i. »« ™. .—* v . -v thebeautifulD.HendersoniisnowiufuUbeauty,agarden 



which stood within its walls in a square of sixteen miles, might be kept tolerably gay and cheerful at a time whs 

 Some idea of the amount of population may be arrived otherwise there would be It tie to interest. Ine varie- 

 at,when we consider the present density of inhabitants gated variety of Arundo Donax is also a pretty plant 

 in all Indian houses and towns. Millions must, there- I well worth growing. It is, however, we fear scarcey 



and the volume of water at its lull height, they must 

 have been much larger." / 



u In this manner was the greater portion of Ceylon 

 kept in the highest state of cultivation. From the north 

 to the south, the island was thickly peopled, and the 

 only portions which then remained in the hands of 

 nature were those which are now seen in the state of 

 primeval forest. Well may Ceylon in those times have 

 deserved the name of the * Paradise of the East.' The 

 beauties which nature has showered upou the land were 

 heightened by cultivation ; the forest- capped mountains 

 rose from a waving sea of green ; the valleys teemed 

 with wealth ; no thorny jungles gave a barren cast to 

 the interminable prospect, but the golden tints of ripen- 

 ing crops spread to the horizon. Temples stood upon 

 the hill-tops ; cities were studded over the land, their 

 lofty Dagobasand palaces reflected on the glassy surface 

 of the lakes, from which their millions of inhabitants 

 derived their food, their wealth, and their very life. 

 The remains of these cities sufficiently attest the former 

 amount of population, and the comparative civilisation 

 which existed at that remote era amonu f the progeni- 

 tors of the present degraded race of barbarians. The 

 ruins of c Anaradupoora,' which cover 256 square 

 miles of ground, are all that remain of the noble citj 



Hollyhocks. The finer kinds are largely propagated 

 here by eyes, which are taken off in summer and planted 

 in a pit under glass in ', a 

 gentle bottom heat. 



Of Rose blooms still iu perfection many handsome 

 bouquets might yet be gathered. Of old varieties 

 still in flower were Hybrid Perpetual : — Baronnt 

 Prevost, Duchess of Sttth •rland of similar colour, but 

 apparently a finer late flower ; the glorious Gcant des 

 Batailles, an i Mrs. Elli r, large rosy purple. Bourbon : 

 — Dupetit Thoua s, crimson ; Justine, rose and prettily 

 cupped ; and Paul's Prince Albert, purplish criinson 

 and a profuse late bloomer ; China : — Mrs. Bosanquet, 

 a fine late kind and President <VO Deque, cherry rose. 

 Tea-scented : — Adam, fine large salmon rose ; Safranot, 

 buff with an Apricot coloured centiv Vicomtesse 

 Decazes, yellow tinted with copper ; and Narcisse, pale 

 yellow, and a free bloomer* K tte :— Caroline Mar- 

 niesse, a creamy-white, which flowers iu clusters ; and 

 Ophirie, copper-coloured, distinct and nearly ever- 



gt* n. 



Of newer kinds in bloom, there were Hybrid Per- 

 petual : — Triomphe de Paris, dark velvety crimson ; 

 Duehesse d'Orleans, lilac blush, a l*r -, full, aud well- 

 shaped flower; General Ca-tt llane, brilliant crimson, 

 and a profuse 1 tte bloomer of somewhat dwarf habit ; 

 Prince Leon, bright crimson, Urge and full ; Chip 

 touzikoff, dark red, and good in shape ; Docteur 



Juillard, rosy purple, shaded with carmine ; Souvenir 



de Madame Lhse, brilliant red, shaded with blackish 

 crimson, a profuse late flow- r< r, and dwarf in habit ; 



Madame de Cambaeiret, rosy earmtue ; Madame 



Philip, blush, pink edged with ros.-, and a fine boh: 

 flower ; Madame Fremion, beautiful light rosy crimson; 

 and General Jacqueminot, brilliant red, very rich and 



velvety. 



The following new kinds we did not s^e in flower, but 



they are r ported to be good. Moss : — Baronne de 

 Wassenacr, a bright red which flowers in clusters ; 

 Clemence Beaugraud, pink ; Comtesse Doria, crimson ; 

 Feiicite Boliain, bright rose ; Gloire de Mousseux, 

 blush, very large ; and Vaodael, dark purple with lilac 

 edges. Perpetual Moss -.—Madame Edooard Ory, rosy 

 carmine ; and Salet, rose with blush edges. Hybrid 

 Perpetual : — Alphonse de Lamar tine, delicate rose ; 

 Baron Laray, carmine ; Empereur Napoleon, brilliant 

 in colour, but not first-rate in shape ; Julie de Guin- 

 noiseau, blush, globular ; Lord Raglan, sc *rlet crimson 

 edged with violet; Madame Masson, reddfch crimson, 

 which changes to violet ; Madame Martel, white, tinted 

 with rose ; Melanie Leroy, rose; and Pauache d'Orleans, 

 flesh colour, striped with rose and purple. 



Young Roses, we need scarcely say, are annually 

 raised here in great quantities, and most of them are 

 struck in the open air under hand-glasses. When large 

 enough to occupy 5-inch pots, they are plunged in open 

 tan beds, where they remain all the summer till about 

 this time, when the most tender of them are moved 



under glass. 



The plants intended for exhibition are also plunged 

 in the open ground, and are moved in-doors about the 

 1st of November, when tho-e selected to be shown in 

 May are pruned. Those for the June exhibition are 

 cut iu a m nth later. By plunging them out of doors 

 till about this time the wood, if the autumn is favourable, 



gets thoroughly well ripened, and when that is the case 



a tiood bloom next season may almost with certainty be 

 relied on. 



\ 



fore, have streamed from the gates of a city, to which 

 our modern London was comparatively a village." 



To the Coffee cultivation a chapter is devoted which 

 will well repay perusal* It is, however, by no means 

 the easy pursuit which some have imagined it to be, and 

 which many have found terribly the reverse, as the 

 ruin which some years since spread like a pestilence 

 among the planters too plainly evinced. Nevertheless 

 Mr. Baker reports that — 



u There is no longer any doubt that a Coffee estate in 



Charles 

 orange 



buff, 



a good situation in Ceylon will pay a large interest for | Cheshunt, light rosy red 

 the capital invested, and will ultimately enrich the pro- 

 prietor, provided that he has his own capital to work 

 his estate, that he gives his own personal superinten- 

 dence, and that he understands the management. These 

 are the usual conditions of success in most atiairs ; but 

 a Coflee estate is not unlrequently abused for not 

 paying — when it is worked with borrowed capital at 



a high rate of interest under questionable superinten- 

 dence. 



But he adds : 



"A rapid fortune can never be made by working a 

 Coffee estate. Years of patient industry and toil, 

 chequered by many disappointments, may eventually 

 reward the proprietor ; but it will be at a time of life 

 when a long residence in the tropics will have ^iven him 

 a distaste for the chilly atmosphere of old England ; his 

 early friends will have been scattered abroad, and he 

 *dll meet few faces to welcome him on his native shores. 

 What cold is so severe as a cold reception 1 

 fciometer can mark the degree. No fortune, however 



hardy enough to stand our winters. 



Of glass houses— of which there are several her 

 each devoted to one class of plants— a long span-roofed 

 one was wholly filled with Hollyhocks in pots. These 

 were some of the finer kinds, which are taken up from 

 the open ground about the beginning of October, lhey 

 are grown all winter under glass, and by spring they 

 are sufficiently forward to supply a crop of cutting, 

 before they are planted out again. Among these were 



first-class varieties, viz., Beauty ^ of 



one of the finest ; Blushing 



the following 



Bride, delicate blush, spike handsome and compact; 



Barron Improved, salmon pink ; Darius, 

 lanre and showy ; Diana, rosy peach 



Glory 



of 



s 



edged with carmine, shape perfect ; 

 Cheshunt, clear yellow, spike large and handsome; 

 Honourable Mrs. Ashley, peach shaded with lilac, 

 one of the finest ; Lizzy Improved, clear peach, similar in 

 style to the last, but more brilliant ; Lord Jocelyn, 

 crimson and very fine ; Louis Napoleon, silvery blush, 

 veined with purple, and though not a show flower very 

 effective; Magician, cherry, with dark maroon base ; 

 Memnon, beautiful light crimson, spike large and fine ; 

 Miss Ashley, light fawn, and handsome in shape ; JNar- 

 cissus, clear yellow ; Queen Eleanor, bright rosy peach 

 with silvery edges, quite new and distinct ; Rosy Morn, 

 bright rose ; Solfaterre, lemon coloured, and good in 



Souvenir, purplish rose; Swansdown, white, 

 ed*ed with lake; and White Globe, pure white, large 



Several of the above have been raised 



A portion of this nursery is devoted to the growth of 

 hardy ornamental trees, of which Messrs. Paul state 

 that they have a collection of nearly 800 different 

 species and varieties, including Conifers, and Evergreen 

 and de. luous shrubs. These are planted in what is 

 called " the arboretum ;" they are not arranged accord- 

 ing to their botanical affinities ; but different forms and 

 tints are placed in juxtaposition with the view of producing 

 pictorial effect. Among Conifers we remarked ^good 

 plant of Lihocedrus chilens;s, which was very littleinjured 

 here last winter ; i handsome compact variety of Red 

 Cedar, some 10 feet in height; Abies Pinsapo, 9 feet 

 high and nearly as much through at the base ; a Deodar, 

 25 feet in height ; Abies nobilis, a blue looking kind 

 called A. alba glauca, together with numerous Jumpers 

 and Cypresses. A variega I d variety of Red Cedar was 

 growing both out of doors and under glass; it is 

 said to be hardy, and if so it will doubtless prove an 

 acquisition, as it is reported to ,row very freely and 

 its variegations are much -M*«" than those <*' a- 

 variegated Chamsecyparis _ . 



trees and shrubs were good specimens of the following, 

 viz -—Gold-edged Weeping Ash and Kim ; Aucuba- 

 leaved Ash and Bird Cherry ; together with variegated 

 Sno wherry, Phdadelphus, and Spanish Chesnut, &c. 



Of weepiuT trees the gold-leaved Weeping Privet, 

 tne Kilmarnock Weepng Willow, with black woo I and 

 foliage as large as that of an Apple tree ; the gold 

 barked weeping Ash; and the weeping Sophora japonica 

 with dense dark massive foliage, were perhaps the most 





Among other variegated 



'5 



form 



remarkahle. 



When speaking of variegated evergreens, we forgot to 



mention the silver-leaved Phillyrea, which is one of the 



most beautiful of wall plants, but not sufficiently hardy 



to stand our winters without such protection. We also 



remarked that scattered here and there among the 



evergreens hardy climbing plants were introduced and 



trained to stakes about 7 feet in height, and when in 



no ther- and compact. 



from seed by the Messrs. Paul, who have b 



een 



very 



bloom doubtless with good effect, 



i Deodars we ob rved an amazing quantity, vary- 

 from 2 feet to 8 feet in height, and most beautiful 



mg 



