January 27, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



33 



The narrow valley is bordered by bluffs and hills of softest 

 calcareous formation, and about these I found certain 

 plants which Coulter and others discovered about Zimapan, 

 a region of similar soil to the northward, but in the same 

 state of Hidalgo. The most conspicuous of these was 

 Leucophyllum ambiguum, a shrub from four to six feet high, 

 with whitened leaves and numerous bluish purple flowers. 

 From Hemsley I fail to learn that Tula was formerly vis- 

 ited by more than one or two passing botanists. 



But it was chiefly the lava-beds, or pedrigal (place of 

 rocks), so often mentioned in Hemsley's work, which held me 

 closely about Mexico City till the end of the season. From 

 numerous craters, lofty or low, scattered about the Serrania 

 de Ajusco, that mountain expanse, twenty miles broad and 

 9,000 to 10,000 feet elevation, bounding the Valley of 

 Mexico on the south, streams of lava have flowed down 

 through a distance of twenty-five miles over nearly all the 

 mountain-side and over the southern edge of the valley, 

 whose altitude is about 7,300 feet. These lava-beds present 

 wide areas of wildest aspect, which are most difficult to 

 travel. Sharp ridges alternate with deep crevasses, while 

 pits and grottoes abound. These tracts are reputed to have 

 been the retreat in former times of dangerous men, of wild 

 cattle and of venomous reptiles. It is probably due to such 

 difficulties and perils that the pedrigal, though coming 

 down so near to the city, appears to have been little ex- 

 plored by the earlier botanists beyond the immediate 

 vicinity of Tizapan and Tlalpam, or San Augustin de las 

 Cuevas (caves), as this town was called in Humboldt's 

 day. Doubtless it was once covered with a scanty forest 

 growth, as are its more remote portions to-day. Only 

 about its borders, and especially in the neighborhood of 

 villages, is it yet overrun by goats and other domestic ani- 

 mals. It still lies and must ever remain an untamable 

 wild, a natural preserve, in whose sheltered and inaccessi- 

 ble recesses numberless species of plants perpetuate them- 

 selves in security. As I toiled over it day after day, 

 wandering widely, though constantly harassed by vexatious 

 obstacles, I met with frequent surprises. Plants whose 

 acquaintance I had made in remote states came in view — 

 plants of mountain-top, of plain and of valley. Some of 

 these were met with only once or twice. To my last day 

 there I was wont to find in some peculiar nook a species 

 not encountered there before by me. Hence it is impos- 

 sible for me to feel that I have exhausted the plant treasures 

 which the pedrigal holds. The track of the Mexico, 

 Cuernavaca & Pacific Railroad is laid across the lava-beds 

 on the sides and on the summit of the mountain, and thus 

 to every one are now opened the interest and beauties of 

 this incomparable region. What a vast and unique natural 

 park is this pedrigal, lying close beside a populous city, 

 and how desirable that it be set apart for a public park, be 

 saved from further spoliation by the wood-cutter and be 

 more extensively opened to travel. „ _ _ . 



Charlotte, Vt. C. G. PriHgle. 



The Winter Solstice at Madeira. 



THE island of Madeira is exceedingly rich in its native 

 flora, and from its situation it has climatic advan- 

 tages which make its fields and gardens remarkable for the 

 variety and quality of their productions, the rapidity with 

 which one crop follows another, and the general abun- 

 dance of its fruits and flowers and vegetables. Swift 

 steamers now carry the perishable products of the islands 

 to the English markets and bring numbers of English tour- 

 ists for a brief holiday to the equable climate, which ranges 

 between extremes of seventy-four and sixty-three degrees, 

 Fahrenheit. It is said that improvements in the water- 

 supply and drainage in the city of Funchal have been 

 undertaken which will give it great additional value as 

 a health resort. M. Grabham, a correspondent of the 

 London Garden, writes in such an entertaining and instruc- 

 tive way of the winter aspects of the gardens of Madeira 

 that we reproduce the article almost entire : 

 The autumnal appearance of the gardens of Madeira is 



characterized by a revival and burst of vegetation distinctly 

 vernal, and suggesting the existence of conditions which in 

 point of climate are truly spring-like. Thus, immediately on 

 the fall of the first rains, alter a long period of dryness, the 

 ground becomes clothed with new growth ; Roses start, bud 

 and blossom, fruit-trees (Apples and Peaches) revive and 

 flower, and there is a general return to an appearance which 

 existed in March and April, though less marked in vigor. 

 Something of this is due to the equivocal character of the 

 climate as to spring and autumn, but much also is due to habit 

 in plant-life and the hesitation shown in adopting the routine 

 of new circumstances ; hence, after many years, several spe- 

 cies introduced from the southern hemisphere have quietly 

 settled into their original seasons, and have their periods of 

 spring growth and full vigor of flowering at our coldest sea- 

 sons, even in the mountains — Acacia dealbata, for example. 

 Others will maintain as long and completely deciduous a 

 season as they were accustomed to in the north, and decline 

 to be moved by even an excess of sunny, showery summer 

 weather — Platanus, for instance. About twelve years ago I 

 introduced a new species of Pancratium from South America ; 

 these plants have thriven and multiplied, but some groups 

 will spring up, flower and die down in October, and others will 

 perform their functions in March and April. Other and more 

 occult differences exist in the behavior of examples of the 

 same species at varying altitudes, suggestive of profound 

 physiological influences in different environments. But the 

 general effect of the unvarying mildness of the climate of 

 Madeira is to prolong the season of active growth and to ren- 

 der it in many cases enduring and permanent, and in other 

 cases to multiply the periods of growth in number in a given 

 period. The gardens at Christmas are not without a free 

 growth and flower show of most kinds of Geraniums, but 

 Pelargoniums are generally quite out of bloom now. Familiar 

 annuals are growing rapidly, and some few are in flower — 

 Stocks, Mignonette, etc. To a new-comer the show of Roses 

 is truly surprising, Lamarque covering enormous spaces over 

 gateway and balcony with fragrant masses of flowers in count- 

 less numbers, while Adam, Cloth of Gold and other less well- 

 established varieties are among the climbers of the class also 

 in full flower. In the beds almost any kind of Rose well 

 known in England is to be seen covered with large attractive 

 blossoms. Camellias in all the shades supplied from Oporto 

 are in full season in many gardens and in profusion. 



Two species of Bougainvillea which blossom in winter, B. 

 spectabilis and B. lateritia, just now cover many a wall and 

 lattice with their deeply colored and prolific flower-bracts. 

 Bignonia venusta is quite as striking and extensive. Giant 

 specimens of Poinsettia with tree-like growth, great bushes of 

 Salvia and Hibiscus of several sorts, combine to dazzle and 

 astonish the visitor from the north, while among the usual 

 garden plants are the Sweet Canary Violet, two sorts of Stre- 

 litzia, many kinds and shades of Azaleas, splendid Rhododen- 

 drons (chiefly beyond Funchal), quantities of familiar and un- 

 familiar Irises, all lovely, all quite at home, large bushes of 

 sweet Olive, sweet-scented Heath, Lemon-scented Verbena, 

 showy Bouvardias of many shades, long sprays of scarlet 

 Euphorbia, hedges of blue Plumbago and Heliotrope, over- 

 hanging bushes of Brugmansia covered with white trumpet- 

 flowers, charging the night air with their aroma and reflecting 

 pale light in the bright moon. Palms and Cycads are inter- 

 mixed, some in fruit, and specimens of Aralia, Castor-oil Bean 

 and giant Echium are to be seen growing freely with flower- 

 ing Aloes, bushes of Spirasa, Pittosporum and Bottle-brush, 

 which in a Madeira garden live healthily together and con- 

 found any preconceived ideas of growth proper to latitude 

 or altitude. Nor do the larger trees offer any more definite 

 idea of a given district or zone, for the deciduous examples of 

 the north and south grow promiscuously and harmoniously 

 with the Camphor Laurel from Formosa, the Acacias of Aus- 

 tralia, the Laurels of Madeira, the Mango of India, with the 

 Erythrinas, Magnolias, Casuarina, Bignonias, Schinuses, the 

 Celtis, Cercis, Ceratonia, the Persea gratissima (with its Pear- 

 like fruit), and every conceivable diversity. 



The kitchen-garden is not less interesting or comprehensive, 

 and abounds at this season with green Peas, Beans and Let- 

 tuce, with most of the familiar esculents of our home gardens 

 added to the list. Several sorts of Gourds, one of them espe- 

 cially (Sechium edule), a small and delicately flavored vegeta- 

 ble, almost perennial in habit and yield, a small uncultivated 

 Tomato, as well as several important additions to the Mints 

 and herbs of our home growth ; a Yam (so-called) and an im- 

 portant country food, the Sweet Potato, a tuberous-rooted Con- 

 volvulus (one to be seen on every side), and well-known 

 varieties of the Potato appear in successive crops. Among 



