610 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[May 7,. 1897. 
NATAL TO THE TRANSVAAL. 
(SEE SUPPLEMENTARY SHEET. 
Tue Transvaal, hitherto little known or valued, is 
f So 
now, than other pa frica, 
coming into notice through the gold mines in the 
sout he country ough the 
liberality of a well-known amateur, I was enabled 
recently to visit the country with a view to investi- 
gate its flora; the results, imperfect and faulty as 
they are, I beg to lay before your readers, I should 
say that all the зеце, hereafter mentioned were 
түне by а good aneroid barometer. 
from hectare (2000 feet), on 
"қат 9, I took advantage of our railway аз 
Ladysmith, а p nos of 125 
reaching Howick (3700 feet) a tiny village, 
12 miles beyond Maritzburg, the vast range of the 
called in Natal, range 
spring drought had шей vegetation very much, 
апа but few plants w were seen in bloom. 
xis, the showy blue-flowered Pentansia 
variabilis, and a beautiful white Gomphocarpus were 
were mostly Helipterum with 
purple Veronica ; in wet places Tritoma uvaria 
and Richardia sethiopica. 
t Estcourt, a cats bows (3900 feet), 60 miles from 
a м 
falls, At Ladysmith, 3200 feet, the grass is нат е 
burnt up with Tot: but nier the railway at 
present stops, and I waggon for the 
rest of the way—a distance of 300 miles. On the 
road to Newcastle ose feet), the grass was simply 
nil—which was very hard on our oxen. I noticed 
a few plants worth mention—a shrubby Ipomeea with 
, light purple flowers ; a tiny yellow Eulo- 
phia, an s, a Jasminum and Brunsvigia 
toxicaria struggling to flower. On a rocky hillside 
was a Crinum with bright rose flowers, and the 
showy Gladiolus aurantiacus—this fine thing varies 
a good deal from yellow to brown 
ereabouts is v E фаб, treeless, and 
da advanced 
too well ema in England, It is the hill of evil 
counsel, Amaj uba, and recalls e Boer war with its 
у ination. Leaving Newcastle behind, 
the Berwick-on-T weed of Natal, we approached and 
i out on Laing’s Nek on the top of the Berg 
(5500 feet). I wished to ascend the Amaguba Moun- 
eet 
and plains. The 
s almost destitute of 
scanty, but a very robust form of Sandersonia 
aurantiaca was found, stem nearly climbing, about 
2 feet high. 
At length, after crossing a tiny streamlet called 
Coldstream, we found ourselves on the vast grassy 
plains of the Transvaal uuo Veldt (Dutch, field). 
This plateau is about 100 miles long, and 10 to 20 
miles broad (it pd is much larger, but I speak of 
altitude ranges from 5500 to 
any k 
now found it; in winter it is a howling desert. It 
is the watershed between the Atlantic and Indian 
Oceans, as reference to a good map of South Africa 
will show. A few Dutch Boers are scattered about 
on this grassy ocean—primitive to a degree, and in 
their habits and ideas much like the patriarchs. A 
few trees are seen round their desolate homesteads— 
mostly Populus alba an nd the Wee eping Y Willow. I 
think it is too cold for Eucalypti to thri 
firewood is to be had, and we were бышы {о пзе 
dry cow-dung for fuel. 'The lakes are a remarkable 
hey vary in size from half a mile to about 4 miles' 
diameter, iiy all circular in shape, the water 
generally shallow, and with an earthy, not distinctly 
saline taste, The geological formation of this table- 
land is sandstone laid down flat. In places where 
the rocks are visible above-ground, it is seen that the 
suppose this tableland is one of the m 
places in the world, "The air is very pure 
iens E very heavy 
Dietes Huttoni, and sundry yellow Compositz, con- 
sisting of Helipterum and helichrysum. In wet 
places the ground was pink with two species of Pio- 
candra, mixed with a blue Lobelia and a little 
purple Polygala. A showy yellow Ranunculus with 
large Cyclamen-like leaves was o me, as also 
were e ulophias, one with go 
tt 
ens interspersed with a dwarf pink 
anthemum and a golden Sedge. Several Acalyphas 
were Teer chase ornamental ; very p Hypoxis— 
some v showy; & few Si d Gladiolus 
longioollis— overs s yellow, very e scented. 
Ferns are rare. The roads or rather tracks in the 
ахай аге as bad as English жетй in Anglo- 
Saxon times, We rarely made over 10 miles a day. 
At last, on November 29, in place of the bound- 
, treeless, grassy plains, we came to quite a 
untry. About 75 miles from Hatana 
th dstone suddenly merges into ng and 
flora is а very rich and interestin The 
do re, into the n of the 
Komati or Umcomati Ber. 
very remarkable plant :—Stem, 3 feet, eag or 
flowers produced he leaves, very many, 
solitary, on long drooping бега perianth, 6-fid. 
pale purple, bell-shaped, about 1 inch long; stamens 
six, style simple. order, I ve, is 
MN the plant has the habit of а narrow 
; it is m most distinct i in habit—would 
our Natal Gerbera aurantiac Three very showy 
Composite, yellow flow e probably—were 
co d what I least expected 
about a foot high, with the habit of an Aphelandra. 
Callas were plentiful; a very handsome variety bore 
. a deep golden-yellow spathe and white spotted leaves; 
another had a blush-rose poe very pretty. 
Few Orchids were seen, viz., a fine white Satyrium 
and Disa polygonoides Жар Orchids are very 
I met wi c ern 
sca 
as plentiful, yi g С 
galis, a fine form of Pelle calomelanos, Adiantum 
thiopicum ad pem різна and Nephrodium 
азаннан um. Jt, 
(To о be —— 
FRUITS UNDER GLASS. 
M-E- L-O N-S- 
As soon as the aroma of ripening fruit in the 
earliest house is detected a drier and airier atmo- 
sphere should be maintained. Do not, however, 
withhold gg Ê moisture altogether ; on the 
rof the house about 11 o'clock 
flagging, althou 
Mage it will be маар, with a view to give 
ur to the fruit, to allow the plants to become 
ву nb i ê roots, and for the same object leave the 
ventilators, top and bottom, open a little at night. 
In order to take as many crops as possible out of the 
individual houses from freshly planted plants in one 
8-inch or 
little fresh soil soon 
glass and woodwor 
second houses, and two i 
year; these, together boc some in pits, afford u 
fruit from April to Decembe 
SuccEssION-HOUSES. 
The atmosphere, which from flowering time until 
the fruit was set was kept rather dry and airy day 
t moister, and the 
0 
95? at closing time. Give libera 
liquid manure at the roots when wot neces- 
PrNE-APPLES. 
and in а afte 
ing mate walls, pat 
vial: but 'avoid letting dir into 
The temperature in the fruiting-house idi be 
allowed to run up to 95? with sun-heat at closing time. 
Shade all such plants as have been lately potted, 
putting on the shading at 10 o'clock in the morning 
and taking it off about З іп the afternoon when 
the day is sunny. Admit air when the thermometer 
indicates 80° in the morning, and 
