June 3, 1S91.] 



Garden and Forest. 



263 



The efforts of the Bermudians in the past to improve the 

 scenery by planting do not seem to have been as successful as 

 one could wish. So many treasures for gardens in such a 

 climate could be found by searching that one marvels at the 

 scanty catalogue of materials used in the most elaborate 

 places, and yet the gardens are by no means devoid of in- 

 terest or beauty. Just now the most conspicuous of plants is 

 the Oleander, which grows and spreads with such persistence 

 that many of the islanders count it a nuisance. To a stranger, 

 however, there are few more attractive objects than the great 

 mass which ultimately forms from a single parent stem in 

 rich soil. These are often twenty feet high, with branches 

 arching to the ground in a circle whose diameter more than 

 equals the height— green mounds starred all over with bright 

 flowers which range from pure white through shades of pink 

 to almost crimson in some cases. All that is needed to start 

 an Oleander-hedge is to place a row of cuttings in the ground, 

 and one often sees a broad belt of these plants extending en- 

 tirely around the boundary of some estate. The Chinese 

 Hibiscus is, perhaps, next to the Oleander in abundance, and 

 it seems equally luxuriant. In many places these plants are 

 sheared into formal hedges, and the great flowers open on the 

 smooth face of this verdurous wall as freely as on the plants 

 which are left to develop into fair-sized trees. Tccoma Capen- 

 sis is another plant which is largely used in hedges, and, just 

 now, it is brilliant with orange-colored flowers, while T. shins, 

 one of the most beautiful of yellow flowering shrubs or small 

 trees, is at the height of its bloom. The Tamarisk, here as 

 elsewhere, shows its sturdiness against the salt-laden gales of 

 the sea-coast, and has been planted very largely and with good 

 judgment in exposed places on the shore. The gorgeous 

 blooms of Poinciaua regia had not yet appeared, but its rela- 

 tive, P. pulcherrima, was growing and blooming everywhere. 

 Occasionally Hue masses of Bamboo are seen, and these, with 

 the native Palmetto {Sabal Blackburniana), the ever-present 

 Banana, and some of the hardier Palms, are the most 

 distinctly tropical features of the scenery, although the 

 Poinsettias, Pomegranates, Bignonias (especially Ik penta- 

 phylla, known here as the White Cedar), the so-called Sand- 

 plant, Erythrina speciosa, with brilliant scarlet (lowers on 

 bare branches, and large specimens of the India Rubber- 

 tree wear a strange look to northern eyes. Of course, 

 this is not meant to serve as a complete list of the garden 

 plants of the island, but only to recall those which were 

 sufficiently conspicuous at this season to impress a casual 

 visitor. Space would fail to mention the striking individual 

 plants, like the two fine "Gru-Gru" Palms {Astrocaryicm 

 aureum) at Mount Langton, but Roses ought not to be omitted, 

 for, although our hardier kinds do not flourish here, those with 

 some blood of the Teas or other tender strains, like Lamarque, 

 for example, were bearing fine flowers in profusion. In the 

 Governor's grounds a superb specimen of Rosa bracteata 

 showed that the soil and climate were well adapted to this 

 beautiful species. 



How readily some plants will become naturalized when they 

 find favorable conditions is shown by the case of one of the 

 Jessamines {J. gracile) which was brought to the islands 

 in 1840. It soon escaped from cultivation, and now it is clam- 

 bering over the rocks and making an almost impenetrable 

 tangle in the woods of a broken region near the famous Wal- 

 singham tract. It is a delightful vine with glossy and fragrant 

 white flowers, and it seems strange that more general use has 

 not been made or it. It would make a charming addition to 

 the landscape if allowed to clamber over the walls along the 

 highways. Occasionally one sees a European Elder, which 

 grows here with great vigor, and is always a beautiful tree. 

 The. islanders seem to have caught the European habit of set- 

 ting it close to the sides of their houses, and it shows to great 

 advantage against their walls. This masking of the house- 

 foundations with shrubbery, however, is no more generally 

 practiced than it is in the United States, but these stone houses 

 would seem to offer excellent opportunities for making such 

 connections with the earth. By one cottage along the road 

 which winds about the north shore stands a pair of Agaves 

 close to the front wall, one on either side of the entrance of a 

 narrow loggia, and the sharp stiff leaves against the white stone 

 produce an effect that no one who drives by them will forget. 

 All the world knows how extensively the bulbs of the great 

 Easter Lily are cultivated here, and the more beautiful old 

 Ascension Lily, L. candidum, flourishes equally well, while 

 Hippeastrums (Amaryllis) and Freesias grow like weeds. At 

 many seasons the fields are brighter than the gardens, but 

 Bermuda is a land of flowers at all times. Our northern states 

 in late May are so attractive that one hesitates about leaving 

 them even for a short absence. But when a few hours can land 



us amid the vegetation of the tropics, under a new sky. and en- 

 circled by a strange sea, the change will prove a pleasing one, 

 and the return will bring a keener appreciation of the rare 

 loveliness of our northern spring. 



New York. "->• 



Dionasa muscipula as a Window-plant. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — One of your correspondents has recently written of the 

 Rattlesnake Plantain as a window-plant, and perhaps some ex- 

 perience with the little Venus* Fly-trap (Dioncca muscipula), 

 also as a window-plant, may' prove of interest. Early last 

 March five melancholy little plants were given to me by a 

 friend to whom they had been sent from their native haunt 

 near Wilmington, North Carolina. I planted them in a deep 

 pot, which I set in a dish of water in a sunny window. They 

 drooped for a while, but soon became acclimated, and began 

 to send up fresh leaves and long straggling flower-stalks amid 

 a flourishing crop of grass and Chickweed. Beyond giving 

 them plenty of water, little attention has been paid to them, 

 and now my Dionseas are in fine condition, blooming well and 

 exercising their insect-catching propensities to the best of 

 their ability. It was hard to understand how the apparently 

 thin, delicate, little leaves could catch (lies nearly as large as 

 themselves, but they certainly do hold them with a murderous 

 grasp. Once I tried to help the plants, and after some trouble 

 caught an unusually large fly, and with a pair of forceps held the 

 tempting morsel between the two valves of a leaf. They very 

 promptly closed on the poor fly, who struggled in vain to escape. 

 Since then my plants have been a daily source of interest, 

 though I let them pursue their insectivorous habits without 

 further help from me. Their leaves are mostly over three 

 inches long, including the curious blade-like stem ; the flower- 

 stalks arc eight to ten inches tall, and bear at the apex a small 

 cluster of buds and flowers. The latter are about an inch 

 across when fully expanded, the five white petals almost 

 transparent and very delicately veined, and the fifteen fluffy 

 little anthers are light yellow on slender white filaments. 



It is a pretty little plant, and certainly a most original and 

 amusing one to watch. 



New York City. Anna Murray Vail. 



Recent Publications. 



The New Potato Culture, by Elbert S. Carman. The Rural 

 Publishing Company, New York. 



For a dozen years or more Mr. Carman has been making 

 experiments in hybridizing and cultivating potatoes, and in 

 this volume he has collected what he considers the most im- 

 portant results which seem to be demonstrated by his tests. 

 What he claims primarily is, that potatoes should be planted 

 in a trench — say ten inches deep and as many wide. So far as 

 can be gathered from a rather diffuse explanation of the 

 method, the practice advocated is to loosen the bottom of this 

 trench, fill in some five inches of soil, and on this mellow bed 

 to drop the seed-pieces, say a foot apart, and then fill in the 

 remainder of the soil and give level culture. It Js claimed 

 that the trenches conserve moisture, which is essential to a 

 good crop. The deep planting also encourages the formation 

 of tubers in two or three planes or tiers, one over the other, so 

 as practically to increase the area of the field by growing one 

 crop above another. The plan also offers some convenience 

 for the application of fertilizers. No doubt, in some soils the 

 trench system would pay well, although it may be questioned 

 whether any revolution in the general method of cultivating 

 the potato is at hand, as the title of this book would seem to 

 indicate. 



Many interesting trials with various so-called chemical fer- 

 tilizers are here recorded — trials made to ascertain the proper 

 proportion of the various elements of plant-food, and the best 

 time and place for their application. All such experiments 

 are indecisive, on account of the small area occupied in the 

 test, the varying conditions of different seasons, and the short 

 time during which they have been conducted. Still they 

 afford valuable hints to the thoughtful cultivator, and they 

 ought to encourage additional experiments on a larger scale 

 in many different soils and climates. Many instructive direc- 

 tions for producing new seedling varieties are given, as well 

 as for the preservation of potatoes during winter, the amount 

 of " seed" to be used, for improving varieties, for mulching, 

 and so on. 



The book lacks methodical and systematic arrangement, but 

 a very complete index goes far toward correcting this fault, 

 and Mr. Carman's careful and long-continued studies deserve 

 grateful recognition. 



