October 1^12, 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



763 



for that particular object, m the hope that 

 itfi possessor weuld then hold the key to any 

 Lga^on in the world of horticulture. But 

 ^matter how searching: such an examina- 

 tion might be, there is no one who knows the 

 p-eneral capabilities personality, and suit- 

 ability of the young man seeking advance- 

 ment better than the head gardener under 

 whom he is serving, and then, as now, it 

 ■will be the personal recommendation of such 

 h^ad gardeners which will carry the greatest 

 ight. Media. 



NEW BOOKS. 



IKISES. 



(J. C. and 

 Acre, London). 



PLANT COLONISTS IN 

 TROPICAL REGIONS. 



The following exti^act from the paper read 

 by Sir Everard Im lliurn at a recent meet^ 

 ing of the Eoyal Horticultural Society, and. 

 published in the society's journal, is of 



ii 





^m- 





^1 



By W. Eickatson Dykes^ M.A. 



E. C. Jack, 67, Long 



Price Is. 6d. net. 

 ilr. Eickatson Dykes has achieved so high 

 1, degree of success as a cultivator and raiser 

 of this large and beautiful class of flowers 

 that he is not only recognised as an autho- 

 rity on all that relates' to their cultivation, 

 but is regarded as the natural succes- 

 sor to the late Sir Michael Foster in this 

 branch of floricultural art. His book on 

 irises, which is now before us, fully justifies 

 the high estimation in which Mr. Eickatson 

 Dykes is held as an authority, for within its 

 pages is found conclusive evidence of his tho- 

 rough acquaintance with the many species 

 now in cultivation, and the conditions under 

 which they can be grown to the highest de- 

 gree of perfection. Written in a bright and 

 pleasant vein, the book opens with a chapter 

 on the structure of the plant and the dis- 

 tinctive characteristics of the groups into 

 which the genus is divided, aud this is fol- 

 lowed by a chapter on the structure of the 

 iris flower. In the succeeding chapters the 

 pieveral groups are passed under review, and 

 the conditions essential to success clearly 

 stated. The book, which is illustrated with 

 coloured plates, is especially deserving the 

 attention of those who are interested in the 

 fascinating flowers to which it is devoted. 



MUSHEOOMS AND HOW TO GEOW 



THEM. 



By John F. Barter. (John F. Barter. Lim., 

 Napier Eoad, Wembley, Middlesex.) 

 Price Is. 



The author of this book has long been 

 known as one of the most successful of the 

 growers of mushrooms for market in the 

 vicinity of London, and it may be anticipated 

 that those who are acquainted with his 

 achievements as a practical cultivator will 

 ^xpect in a work from his pen to find ample 

 information on all that relates to the produc- 

 tion of abundant supplies of high quality. 

 Those who have sucb expectations will not be 

 disappointed, for in the course of the book 

 Mr. Barter states concisely and clearly the 

 course of procedure by which the most satis- 

 factory crops can be obtained from beds 

 both in the open and under cover. The pre- 

 paration of the manure, the formation and 

 spawning of the beds, gathering the crop, 

 and packing and marketinfj^ the mnslirooms. 

 and other details essential to success are all 

 dealt with in such manner as to render the 

 advice of much value to those who are in 

 need of assistance. 



m 



This Chinese 



privet is worth including amongst the occu- 

 pants of the shrubbery, for it is one of the 

 latest flowering shrubs we possess, its normal 

 Wossoming time being September and Octo- 

 ^r. When full grown it is seen as a bush 

 •^It. to 8ft. high, with rather stiff branches, 

 somewhat sparinglv clothed with small green 

 [eaves. The white'flowers 

 terminal inflorescences, 

 about the end of September. it may 

 grown quite as easily as any of the other 

 Pnvets, but it is not so w^ell suited for shady 

 places as Ligustrum ovalifolium, on account 

 3ts late flowering; in fact, the most satis- 

 lactory results are obtained from those plants 

 Which are exposed to full sun.— D. 



borne in large, 

 and are at their best 



It mav be 



the 



perate regions readily adapt 

 tropical conditions. It also affords further 

 evidence of the fact tbat care is necessary m 

 the introduction of plants to countries in 

 which it will be difficult to keep them in 

 check, should they become too aggressive. 

 Sir E. ImThurn said: 



Before quitting the coa^t region 

 traveller must notice one other very charac- 

 teristic plant association. Every now and 

 affain he will come across a more open place 

 where for some reason trees and shrubs have 

 not succeeded in establishing themselves In 

 such places the black peaty-looking earth is 

 almost free from plant-covering except where 

 at frequent intervals a tiny little island- 

 like the " hag " in a Scotch moor-has been 

 built up by the densely-matted roots ot a 

 clise-gro Jng fern, ^^^crostkhum aaire 

 almost ubiquitous in the tropics, ^^otli in the 

 east and in the west, and north and fouth of 

 the line " ; and it is generally m such rather 

 dreary-looldng places that the beautifu 

 white lily-like Crinum asiaticum finds its 



most congenial home. 



Wlieu It last we turn away from the coast 

 region and make for tlie Eewa River, our 



takes us up and down HU, bu mamly 

 UP till at a dit>tance of nme miles from 

 SuW we reach the crest of the range of 

 ruSed hills which separate Suva Harbour 

 S the wide delta through w^ich the lower 

 reaSies of the Eewa flow. The "fj^ 

 through which we have passed was doubtl^ 

 once forest covered, but much of it ha. at 

 one time or another been cleared, either by 

 natives or by Europeans, and most of this 

 cleared pLt has again been allowed to fall 

 back intS bush or jungle. This. tract afford. 



a splendid opportunity for ^f'^^^^^f ,*^^%^tcJ 

 prominent of the introduced which 

 have taken almost too well to their new 

 Some, Ld have become more or 1- nox-us 

 weeds Along the first part of this bit ot 

 Toad the most noticeable thing is the almost 

 rodu Lii<r "brakes" of "wild lemons. 



interminable . . j a 



guavas and Lantana, all ^^^'^^^'''^^/T-XL' 

 Lautiful enough both in flower and fruit, 

 now l«>conie noxious weeds, very difficult to 

 eradicate, over very considerable areas of 



^^iL wild lemon is, of course, a "citrus 

 fruit " but exactly what it is I cannot say. 

 The fruit, which is very abundant and pic- 

 turesque, is neither round like an orange nor 

 lemon-shaped; nor is the ski no the colour 

 or the texture of any other citrus fruit 

 known to me. It is very irregular in shape 

 iTe. thick skin, 



woodv white pulp, and little ]uice.. It seems 

 7eTy unlikely that it is an indigenous species 

 and is more probably a reversion towards an 

 original tvpe of some form which has arisen 

 the natural crossing of two or more in- 

 troduced species. 



The fruit is rarely used— even, I tli'nk, bj 

 natives-though there is a considerable d^ 

 mand Tooth by Europeans and natives tor 

 Tirns i^uis s^ch as the " Tahiti " and Man- 

 darin orange, the shaddock and t^<^ ^" 

 of which grow more or less freely m Fi]i, but 

 under slightly more domesticated circum- 

 stances It should be added that the F mans 

 themselves habitually speak of the shaddock 

 as the "moli n'dina " or "true orange 



Tlie wild guava of these "brakes." though 

 of a good enough variety, with a large and 

 fairly luscious fruit, is little if at all. used^ 

 nor. as far as I know, is it or any form of 

 Psidium cultivated in Fiji. It seems almost 

 as though the useful qualities of t^ie Jiiava 

 were o^^rlooked owing to a sort of 'Hogical 

 resentment against the plant becaiise of the 

 extraordinarily rapid spreading of the roots. 

 Even small fragments of roots grow vigo- 



r ^^M^-n fhp narent plant is destroyed. 



and even burning a guava scrub does not 

 seem to kill it. ITiere is no known way ot 

 eradicating a brake* of this plant but to ffence 

 it in, and to keep a large number oi goats 

 in it till the unfortunate animals have eaten 

 the last leaf which appears. Moreover, it 

 one man does succeed in clearing his ow-n 

 land from guava, there is constant danger 

 of new invasion from adjacent lands, either 

 by root growth or by bird-carried seeds. 



The common Lantana of our gardens has 

 spread over probably every tropical area into 

 which it has been introduced. But it is not 

 very difficult to eradicate, and it certainly 

 does not impoverish the land as does the 

 guava. It is perhaps of horticultural in- 

 terest that the Lantana which occurs in Cey- 

 lon is almost alwavs yellow-flowered, with 

 ionly an occasional pink, and very rarely a 

 white, form; but that in Fiji its flow, .- are 

 almost as varied in colour as arc tlu-,^ 

 bedded out in gardens at home. It .scn-ms 

 almost certain that it was first introduced 

 into .Fiji as a garden plant, and at a com- 

 paratively recent date— i.e., after huro]iean 

 horticulturists had guided it into a consider- 

 able variety of colour. 



Another introduced plant very notuoable, 

 not only along the road we are travelling, 

 but in almost all parts of the island where 

 the clearing of the ground from its previous 

 growth has given the newcomer an oppor- 

 tunity of gaining a foothold, is Mikania 

 amara, a weak-stemmed, almost succulent- 

 looking South American creeper, of such tre- 

 mendously rapid growth, during its active 

 season, as to have earned for itself the popu- 

 lar name of " mile-a-minute." An isolated 

 plant or two of this is pretty enough, by rea- 

 son of its graceful habit, the exceptionally 

 brilliant green of its leaves, and the infinite 

 number of its tiny while and very sweet 

 scented flower.s. 13ut, at least in tropical 

 places it is a dangerous enemy, because ot 

 the extraordinary rapidity ot its growth, 

 which enables it, if it once gets a chance to 

 emother herbage and bush and tree, till it 

 lies over all other plant growth much as a 

 heavy and much-drifted snowfall does in our 



own country. 



I fihould have liked to say a good deal 

 about the " sensitive plant " (Mimosa pudica). 

 which has spread in Fiji, as in most similar 

 places, almost as rapidly as the other in- 

 troduced weeds " I have mentioned ; but I can 

 only stop to point out that, whereas in its 

 other new homes it is generally looked upo" 

 as an unmitigated pest, it is welcomed an^ 

 encouraged in Fiji as a first-rate fodder 

 plant. It is very remarkable, but I know 

 from personal experience that it is true, that 

 cattle eat it readily and with good effect, 

 despite the large woody and curved thorns 

 with which the adult plant is provided, ihe 

 seed now fetches a high price for planting 

 purposes, and an effort is being made to 

 select a strain with the fewest possible 



thorns. . , » . 



ust mention be omitted of two other 



introduced plants. Melastoma malabathri- 

 cum L.— locally called " Kester s Curse, 

 after the unfortunate planter, who is ac- 

 cused I believe falsely, of having acciden- 

 tally 'introduced it, with coffee plants from 

 Ceylon— is now a pestilent weed m^the cattle 

 pastures, and has apparently no redeeming 

 qualities. Again, over most of these intro- 

 duced things, as well as over many of tht 

 native plants, a very familiar looking Dodder 

 —very like our English plant— is rapidly 

 spreading. It is the most difficult of all to 

 eradicate ; for the tiniest fragment of one of 

 the threadlike stems is able to reproduce the 

 plant in wonderful masses and at the 

 shortest notice. 



Nor 



Myrsiphyllums.— When the trails of 

 this useful twining plant attain a length 

 of two or three feet they should be cut for 

 use, 80 that fresh strings may be placed to 

 receive the young shoots as they are pro- 

 duced. An endeavour should be made to 

 obtain a wealth of nicely-developed trails 

 during the autumc and winter, when they 

 are most in request for decorations. — H. T. M. 



