126 ii*ofi.fisT ctJL^TJiti: Aiii) 



only occurring in East Qipps Land, within our terri- 

 tory, rank among the naost lofty of the globe, though 

 also among the most hardy. All this, in our latitude, 

 seem astounding — -but more, it demonstrates, also, 

 great riches ; and I allude to it here only because I 

 wished to show how a vegetation so prodigious points 

 to the facilities of a natural, magnificent, industrial 

 culture. The complex of vegetation is always an in- 

 dicator of the soil and climate ; as such alone, plants 

 deserve close study. In this instance it reveals un- 

 told treasures, and yet, without phytographic knowl- 

 edge they could never be understood, nor any intelli- 

 gent appreciation of them be conveyed beyond the lo- 

 cality. 



But can this grand picture of nature not be further 

 embellished? Might not the true Tulip-tree, and the 

 large Magnolias of the Mississippi and Himalaya, 

 tower far over the Fern-trees of these valleys, and 

 widely overshade our arborescent Labiatae ? * Might 

 not the Andine Wax Palm, the Wettlnias, the Gin- 

 gerbread Palm, the Jubea, the Nicau, the northern 

 Sabals, the Date, the Chinese Pan Palms, and Rhapis 

 flabeUiformis, be associated with our Palm in a glori- 

 ous picture? Or, turning to still more utilitarian ob- 

 jects, would not the Cork - tree, the Red Cedar, the 

 Camphor-tree, the Walnuts and Hickories of North 

 America, grow in these rich, humid dales, with very 

 much greater celerity than even with all our tending 

 in less genial spots ? Could not, of four hundred co- 

 niferous trees, and three hundred sorts of Oaks, nearly 

 every one be naturalized in these ranges, and%hus 



* Bhododendron arboreum attains a height of thirty feet, while Bh, Fal- 

 conerl rises to fifty feet, with leaves half a yard long. 



