ASril 4, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



139 



tilla, Primula, etc. Fragaria Daltoniana occurs here and there, 

 bearing narrow oblong fruits, reminding one of small straw- 

 berries, and resembling them in flavor. The road from San- 

 dakphu to Phalut passes through a forest of Abies Webbiana, 

 associated with Pyrus foliolosa, Betula utilis, Acer caudatum 

 and Prunus rufa, etc. ; underneath them are thickets of various 

 Rhododendrons and of two species of Bamboo. 



On the slopes immediately below the summit of Phalut ar- 

 boreal vegetation is scanty, and confined to sheltered ravines. 

 The ground is everywhere covered with a sward of herbaceous 

 plants. Anemone rivularis, with blue and white flowers, pre- 

 dominates. Primula rotundifolia and P. Sikkimensis (the lat- 

 ter affecting marshy situations in company with Calathoes 

 palmata) are common. Meconopsis Wallichii is extremely 

 abundant. The Bhutias eat the young stems of this plant, and 

 the shoots of a Polygonatum are much esteemed by the 

 Gurung shepherds. The young shoots of Bamboos are cooked 

 and eaten. Rheum acuminatum is prevalent throughout the 

 whole of alpine Sikkim, but is not utilized as food. Allium 

 Wallichii, which is equally abundant, is consumed largely, 

 sharing with the common onion the reputation of being an 

 efficacious antidote against the physical discomforts experi- 

 enced by men and animals at high elevations. 



From Cheabhanjan onward to Kinchinjunga the only avail- 

 able path is that used by the shepherds, who pasture their 

 flocks along the whole range during summer. For many miles 

 this track follows the contour of the spur's crest, so that every 

 day's march comprises many descents and ascents. As might 

 be inferred from the proximity of the path to the ridge, streams 

 supplying a sufficiency of water for our camp were few and far 

 between, often necessitating long marches to obtain our two 

 chief desiderata — a space large enough to contain our tents and 

 water for cooking. At the end of the first day we found such 

 a place at Ewanangi, a halting-stage for shepherds. Its eleva- 

 tion by B. P. thermometer was 11,174 feet. The camping- 

 ground was covered with young plants of the formidable 

 Cnicus eriophoroides, a large Thistle. At the commencement 

 of this march we struck the Islumbo Pass, and continued in a 

 northerly direction. The path runs through woods of Rhodo- 

 dendron arboreum, R. cinnabarinum, R. Falconed, R. barba- 

 tum and R. Hodgsoni, Acer caudatum, Betula utilis, Pieris 

 ovalifolia, Juniperus Pseudo-Sabina, Abies Webbiana, Prunus 

 rufa, Arundinaria spathiflora, etc. 



The following day's march was from Ewanangi to Megu. 

 Two Gentians become common at about 12,000 feet — one, 

 Gentiana stylophora, with large, terminal, greenish, Lily-like 

 flowers ; the other, Swertia Hookeri, conspicuous by its 

 brown leaves and inflorescence, growing together in whorls 

 on a stem often six feet high. A white and pink Primula is 

 common ; Rhododendron Anthopogon is abundant. Its fra- 

 grant leaves are largely collected and burned as incense in 

 Buddhist temples. Small trees are represented by the species 

 of Rhododendron formerly enumerated, Pyrus foliolosa, Pru- 

 nus rufa and the bushy variety of Juniperus recurva, which 

 forms excessively close thickets. Spiraea bella and Pyrus 

 rhamnoides grow in open situations. Clematis montana, with 

 large white flowers, climbs over bushes, and at once arrests 

 attention. A succession of steep ascents and descents (where 

 we first saw plants of Meconopsis simplicifolia in flower 

 nestling under Berberry-bushes) was covered by a compara- 

 tively level path running over the rocks of glacial deposit, at 

 the end of which lay the large and grassy flat of Megu, whose 

 elevation by B. P. thermometer was 12,767 feet. Its bright 

 green surface was interspersed with many plants of white 

 Primroses and yellow Calathodes, a refreshing sight after trav- 

 eling through such a long waste of Rhododendrons. 



Attaining a ridge marked by a rudely built monument, bearing 

 a small flag, we descended a steep gorge, down which a stream 

 urged its turbulent course. The most noteworthy plant growing 

 in the desolate locality we had traversed is the gigantic Rhubarb, 

 Rheum nobile, always associated in the traveler's mind with 

 barren precipices, where they delight to grow, and where they 

 heighten the weird effect of such scenery by their cadaverous 

 stave-like stems, for only by closer inspection can the actual 

 beauty of the plant be realized. The only perfect specimens 

 existed on inaccessible rocks, as the shepherds collect and de- 

 vour all they find within reach. 



Leaving Gambothan, which is 12,400 feet above sea-level, a 

 steep ascent was made to the summit of the ridge — 13,300 feet 

 in elevation. For half the distance there is a scattered forest 

 of Abies Webbiana, Juniperus recurva, Rhododendron cam- 

 panulatum, Prunus rufa and Betula utilis ; the upper part 

 being almost wholly occupied by Rhododendron Anthopogon 

 and R. setosum. These, when bruised or trodden upon, ex- 

 hale a strong perfume from the superficial glands with 



which they are covered, aggravating the headaches to which 

 all are subject at high elevations. Gentiana stylophora is 

 exceedingly common. Beyond the ridge is the broad, open 

 summit of Bokto, covered with grass, on which two large 

 flocks of sheep were feeding. From this a descent has to be 

 made into the valley of the Yangsap through dense growths of 

 Rhododendrons, Abies Webbiana, Pyrus foliolosa and P. mi- 

 crophylla ; beyond is a steep hill, almost devoid of vegetation 

 and covered with boulders. The path winds up its right flank 

 to a depresion below its summit at about 14,000 feet elevation. 

 There is a good wood of Juniperus Pseudo-Sabina, and the 

 shrubby vegetation mainly consists of a Berberis not yet in 

 leaf. Descending somewhat we crossed two small plains with 

 a steep low ridge intervening. On these level tracts, inter- 

 sected with sheep-walks, it would have been almost impossi- 

 ble to keep the proper paths had not the shepherds marked 

 them with upright slabs of stones at regular distances. Leav- 

 ing the second plain, a steep scramble along the inclined foot 

 of an enormous black gneiss cliff brought us to the bank of 

 Ratong River, on whose further side we camped on a flat 

 grassy knoll, the only cleared spot in a waste of Rhododendrons. 



In a second tour, Mr. Gammie visited the Lachung val- 

 ley, where, at the head of the valley, 8,000 feet above the 

 sea, he tells us : 



This locality is eminently distinguished by its variety of conif- 

 erous trees. Abies Webbiana, the dominant species on the 

 humid mountains of the Singalelah and Chola ranges, even 

 here maintains its supremacy in numbers. It ranges from 

 9,000 to 13,000 feet. Up to 11,000 feet it grows intermingled 

 with the other hghter-foliaged Pines, but from that elevation 

 to its highest limit it exists alone or associates with the equally 

 dark-colored Juniperus Pseudo-Sabina, so that nothing breaks 

 the monotony of their sombre aspect on the slopes which they 

 clothe with their lofty forest. Juniperus Pseudo-Sabina and 

 J. recurva are the two last representatives of arboreal vegeta- 

 tion, both attaining 15,000 feet, the former as a small stunted, 

 weather-worn tree, the latter as a prostrate intricately branched 

 shrub. 



Picea Morinda and Tsuga Brunoniana are found between 

 8,000 and 11,000 feet. The first is a tall, conical tree, with a 

 thick trunk and dark green pendulous branches, the latter has 

 spreading branches, drooping at the extremities, and bears very 

 small cones. Larix Griffithii, the only Himalayan Larch, is 

 restricted in its distribution to eastern Nepal, Sikkim and 

 Bhutan, and previous to its rediscovery by Dr. Hooker its ex- 

 istence was only known from a notice in Griffith's journals. It 

 is pyramidal in outline and attains a height of sixty feet. The 

 branches are long and pendulous, supporting erect cylindrical- 

 cones, closely resembling those of Picea Morinda. 



The Peach and Apricot, introduced from Thibet, are culti- 

 vated by the villagers at Lachung, but in no great quantity. I 

 was informed that the fruits of both ripen in the end of Sep- 

 tember. Pyrus Sikkimensis, a wild Crab-apple tree, is com- 

 mon, but its austere fruit is only pleasantly edible when stewed 

 with sugar. A little barley is reared, with radishes and tur- 

 nips, which were the only vegetables I could obtain worth eat- 

 ing ; their scanty yield of potatoes consisted of wretchedly 

 small tubers, so waxy as to be nauseating when cooked. 



Bulletin 35 of the West Virginia Agricultural Experiment 

 Station is devoted to wood-boring insects and the defects in 

 timber caused by them. Some of these insects infest dead 

 trees only, others attack unhealthy standing trees, others still 

 prefer the healthy wood of living trees. Some of them inhabit 

 the sap-wood only, while others enter the heart-wood and make 

 tunnels which may extend for several feet through the best 

 part of the trunk. The so-called pin-holes in the heart-wood 

 of Chestnut, for example, are made by an odd-looking worm 

 which never infests a living tree unless some wound in the 

 bark or wood is made where the parent beetle deposits her 

 eggs. A broken branch or bruise in the bark will be sufficient 

 to give them a start, and, according to Professor Hopkins, who 

 writes this bulletin, a wound made by a small bullet in a thrifty 

 young tree was sufficient to attract beetles, and although 

 the wound was made some ten years ago it is still infested by 

 the worms, which proves that the same wound may be util- 

 ized for years by successive generations. A wound to the bark 

 of a young tree five or six inches in diameter from a load of 

 shot has been known to start so many worms at work in the 

 wood at that point as to kill the tree. Pin-holes in Oak, rang- 

 ing from one one-hundredth to one-eighth of an inch in diam- 

 eter are drilled by a similar worm, which also only attacks liv- 

 ing trees where there has been some serious injury to the 

 bark and sap-wood. Other pin-holes occur only in the sap- 



