302 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 175. 



easily accessible to the kitchen, where old-fashioned plants 

 bloom gayly, and are cherished often from some tender 

 association with the past. Any country doctor in one of 

 the older New England villages can tell these critics that 

 there are almost no houses so homely, but he finds in them, 

 in winter, a few plants in the window, and in summer 

 some bright flowers in a tiny garden, cultivated and 

 watered often by feeble and tired hands. Hard and 

 dreary as are many of the poor little lives of New England 

 villagers, this one touch of color and perfume is there 

 almost invariably, to show that the thirst for beauty is 

 un quenched. 



If, with its ungrateful soil and tormenting climate, New 

 England cannot rival Old England in the gay surround- 

 ings of its cottage doors, the same love of flowers is there, 

 finding such expression as it may under the cruel condi- 

 tions of a sterile earth, and burning summer heats and 

 dryness, alternated with sharp east winds, which make a 

 labor as well as a pleasure of a garden. 



The Bermuda Palmetto. 



WE published last week two views of the Bermuda 

 Cedar {Juniperus Bermudiana). On page 307 of the 

 present issue there is reproduced a photograph of the Ber- 

 muda Palmetto {Sabal Blackbur?iiana) as it appears growing 

 in its native marshes, a species endemic to the islands, and 

 the most interesting plant of their flora after the Cedar. 

 Botanically this Bermuda Palm closely resembles the Pal- 

 metto of the coast of Carolina and Florida (S. Palmetto), 

 and there is little doubt that, like the Cedar, it was first 

 brought by birds from the mainland, and afterward gradu- 

 ally underwent the slight modifications which serve to dis- 

 tinguish it from its remote ancestor. So very near alike are 

 the two plants that it is only in recent years that the insu- 

 lar Palm has been recognized as a distinct species. It is a 

 curious fact, moreover, that this Palm, although so recently 

 understood, has been cultivated in England a long time 

 without the origin of the cultivated plants being known. 

 The wild specimens sent to Kew for determination, Mr. 

 Hemsley tells us in his botanical report on "The Scientific 

 Results of the Voyage of H. M. S. Challenger," "proved 

 to belong to a species of Palm of which there is evidence 

 that it has been cultivated in England for at least one hun- 

 dred and fifty years, and of which, besides numerous small 

 ones, there is a magnificent example in the Palm-house at 

 Kew which flowers and bears fruit continuously. The 

 origin of the cultivated Palm was involved in obscurity. 

 In 1737 a small plant of it was presented by Lord Petre to 

 the grandfather of the Mr. Blackburn for whom it was 

 named. The earliest record of its flowering in this country 

 that we have found is in 18 18." 



5. Blackburniana grows in Bermuda to the height of forty 

 or fifty feet, with a trunk diameter of from twelve to six- 

 teen inches, and produces leaves six or eight feet across, 

 borne on stout stems seven or eight feet in length. At 

 the base of the leaf-blade there is a broad yellow spot 

 which surrounds the end of the stalk and serves to distin- 

 guish the Bermuda Palm at a glance from its continental 

 relative. The fruit of, the insular plant is considerably 

 larger, too, and was once held in much esteem as an article 

 of food. Jourdan, in his "Discovery of the Bahmudas, 

 otherwise called the Isle of Divels, by Sir Thomas Gates, 

 Sir George Somers and Captain Newport, with divers 

 others," states that "there is a tree called a Palmito-tree 

 which hath a very sweete berrie, upon which the hogs doe 

 most feede ; but our men finding the sweetnesse of them did 

 willingly share with the hogs for them, they being very 

 pleasant and wholesome, which made them carelesse 

 almost of any bread with their meate; which occasioned 

 us to carry in a manner all that store of flour we could save 

 for Virginia. The head of the Palmito-tree is very good 

 meate either raw or sodden. It yeeldeth a head which 

 weigheth about twenty pounds, and is farre better meate 

 than any cabbige." 



The Palmetto is frequently mentioned in the early annals 

 of the islands, and laws were passed for its preservation. 

 An intoxicating beverage, known as "bibey," was distilled 

 from it, and the leaves have always been used for thatch 

 and for baskets, fans and various fancy articles ; and all 

 the vegetables exported from the islands were until a few 

 years ago sent away in the small oblong baskets plaited 

 from Palmetto-leaves. These baskets, now replaced by 

 boxes made of cheap American pine, have almost entirely 

 disappeared, and are only to be found in the shops devoted 

 to supplying the tourist with natural curiosities and other 

 mementos of a visit to the Insula; aestivarum. 



Kew and .its Work. 



THE following extract is from an article in a recent 

 issue of the Gardeners' Chronicle, and it is the pref- 

 ace to some account of the successful journey of Mr. 

 Morris, the Assistant Director of the Royal Gardens, to the 

 West Indies in the interest of economic botany. Now that 

 a movement is on foot for the establishment of a botanic 

 garden in this city it is proper that the people at larg° 

 should be informed of the possibilities of such an institu- 

 tion, and of what would be expected from it and from its 

 management : 



When, in 1841, Sir William Hooker undertook the direc- 

 tion of the Royal Gardens, Kew, that foreseeing botanist laid 

 down a triple course of action. Kew was to be the botanical 

 centre of the empire in a threefold capacity — as a great scien- 

 tific institution, the headquarters of economic botany, and as a 

 pleasure-ground for the public ; each department was to be 

 made as perfect in itself as possible, each was to co-operate 

 with the others for the common benefit. How successfully 

 the idea has been carried out by successive directors is known 

 to all our readers. Kew, as a scientific institution, is absolutely 

 indispensable, and is the acknowledged head of all similar 

 bodies, at home or abroad. In the "gardens," where " collec- 

 tion" was once the dominant aim, selection now prevails. 

 The best and the most suitable plants for particular purposes 

 are grown in masses, so that their qualifications can the 

 better be estimated, while each individual is so cultivated as to 

 display to the fullest advantage its botanical and ornamental 

 characters. Of course, while demonstrations (we use the 

 word in its educational sense) of this character are given for 

 the benefit of the gardener and the delectation of the public, 

 the equally or, so far as Kew is concerned, the much more 

 important functions of experimental cultivation are not 

 neglected. This may not be very attractive to the casual 

 visitor, but it is of the utmost importance to botany and horti- 

 culture, and, of course, it furnishes the basis for those more 

 decorative "demonstrations" of which mention has been 

 made. While a certain amount of mere decorative gardening, 

 according to conventional pattern, cannot be dispensed with 

 in a great pleasure-resort like Kew, competition with ordinary 

 gardens and parks in these respects is hardly to be desired. 

 We look to Kew to set the fashion, not to follow it. We de- 

 pend on it to furnish us with new materials, new illustrations, 

 new developments, new combinations. The educational and 

 instructional element should, without being offensively obtru- 

 sive, permeate the whole garden, so that the visitor, delighted 

 with what he sees before him, may, at the same time, and it 

 may be imperceptibly, receive impressions which will serve 

 to expand and refine his taste, and augment his intelligence in 

 the future. 



But, in addition to the purely scientific and aesthetic func- 

 tions which this great garden performs, Kew is the centre of 

 economic botany. The phraseology is somewhat pedantic, 

 but we do not know how to mend it, for the term "applied 

 botany" is hardly more familiar. A visit to either of the Kew 

 museums (there are three) shows, however, at a glance, what 

 is meant, and is calculated to conciliate any gradgrinds who 

 might be disposed to grumble at the expenditure of pub- 

 lic moneys for purposes they do not appreciate. These 

 museums furnish the best available concrete reply to the ques- 

 tion, which, even in these days of scientific progress and its 

 resultant advantage, some people still put, "Cui bono?" 

 (" What is the use ? ") From the very first the energies of di- 

 rectors and curators have been turned strongly in this direc- 

 tion, museums have been formed, libraries accumulated, and 

 floras written at Kew expressly with this object. The residents 

 in the colonies have been furnished not only with information 



