FLORA AND SYLVA, 



orange flowers ; it ripens a full week before the 

 Chasselas, immediately following the earliest 

 white kinds. The vine Lierval appeared at An- 

 gers some 30 years since, and is remarkable at 

 first sight for its long joints, giving the effect of 

 scanty foliage. It is fairly vigorous and fertile, 

 and its shoots should be left long. The bunches 

 of fruit aresmall and compact, the berries being 

 of different sizes on the same bunch ; the slight 

 musk flavour is only developed as they ripen. 

 The Hatifde Marseille matures very early, fol- 

 lowing the first Madelaines. It is fertile, fairly 

 vigorous, producing loose bunches of fair size, 

 composed of medium-sized fruit of good flavour 

 and appearance ; its tough skin makes it well 

 adapted for export and travel, and as an early 

 Grape it is being largely planted in the south. 



The MustangVine. — As 1 was riding through a few 

 hundred miles of forest in Louisiana and Texas, I 

 found vines of the Mustang, apparently as old as the 

 forests themselves, clinging toandflingingtheirarms 

 from Oak to Pecan trees, Elm, Gum,orWhiteAsh,as 

 they came in the way ; and wherever they laid hold, 

 like Sinbad's rider in the Arabian tales, they fixed 

 themselves with so firm a grip that neither wind nor 

 storm could shake them off, and there they will ride 

 till time or the feller's axe clears them away. One hot 

 day I had ridden thirty miles through the tall prairie 

 grass, when we made the timber of the Brazos River 

 bottom ; and judge my surprise when, for the first 

 time, I saw a grove of Mustang vines and, what was 

 better, Grapes. Our Mexican ponies were jaded out, 

 and so were we ; and without ceremony we took off 

 the saddles and turned them out to find water and 

 food, knowing they would return at sunset for their 

 corn. After half an hour's rest we commenced a ram- 

 ble through the vine-covered forest. It was vegetation 

 run wild with luxuriance ; nothing escaped the vines' 

 spreading arms ; from the low undergrowth to the 

 mightiest Oak or Pecan tree, the Mustang vine was 

 master of the situation. The Grapes certainly were 

 not equal to our Black Hamburghs,but for about ten 

 minutes I thought them most delicious. Some of the 

 stemswere 2 feetand upwards in circumference at the 

 base. The leaves of the Mustang are less indented 

 than those of most of the European kinds, and have 

 a thick white downy covering underneath. The fruit 

 is as black as jet, the pulp firm, and less juicy than in 

 any Grapes cultivated in Europe ; the bunches would 

 average about half a pound in weight, but hung in 

 profusion. After wandering about for half an hour, 

 we came upon a crowd of settlers with their waggons, 

 men and women busy collecting Nature's wild har- 

 vest of Grapes. On asking them what they were go- 

 ing to do with them, with a look of surprise they re- 

 plied, " Make wine, to be sure." — W. 



THE CORK OAK (Quercus suber). 

 The Cork Oak has a peculiar charm of its own 

 in its soft, often quaint, beauty, and the interest 

 which it arouses when seen for the first time. 

 Upon its native hillsides it is an essentialfeature 

 of the landscape, with its rugged, irregular out- 

 line, most variable in direction and contour, 

 with limbs and trunk knotted and gnarled and 

 twisted, at times rising from a huge grey bole 

 swelled into quaint form, at others breaking 

 into several stems almost from the ground, or 

 again rising in one rugged column. Whether 

 sweepinglow almost as a weeping tree, or fling- 

 ing its branches here and there as though at 

 random, or rising under one spreading dome of 

 leafage, the rugged stems, now dark, now light, 

 and the peculiar toss of its leaves and branches, 

 have a charming effect. Far hardier than the 

 Olive, it is found far into the centre of France, 

 and in our country, though liable to injury in 

 severe winters, this occurs rarely. In size and 

 beauty the mature English trees fully equal 

 thoseof southern Europe, where they are rarely 

 as much as 60 feet high, though some old ones 

 show a vast girth of stem. They thrive in any 

 , light, sandy, or even chalky soil, if well drained, 

 but constant and stagnant moisture, heavy or 

 limestone soils, and cold winds are fatal to them. 

 If well placed their growth is rapid. In most 

 of the southern counties fine trees may be met, 

 particularly in Kent, Sussex, and the south-west 

 of England, Wales, and Ireland ; while as far 

 north as Cheshire and Staffordshire, and in so 

 bleak a county as Suffolk, fine trees exist. Two 

 of the best existed in Loudon's time at Mam- 

 head near Exeter, one of them being \ 2\ feet 

 round near the base ; others almost as remark- 

 able are found in the south of Ireland, while 

 even around London several fine trees are grow- 

 ing. The foliage of the Cork Oak is light and 

 graceful, casting but a half-shade in which 

 many plants thrive, it is therefore much used 

 in gardens on the Riviera as a screen for ten- 

 der or shade-loving exotics, or for climbers 

 which are quite at home in its airy branches. 

 In late spring when the young leaves take on 

 a vivid green and the twigs are hung with 

 myriads of catkins, and again as the old foli- 

 age turns russet and yellow before its fall, its 

 beauty is ever-changing, particularly when in 

 one group are found many trunks stripped at 

 different times and varying in colour from red- 



