9U 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



November 



30 



1912. 



THE LOGAN BERRY. 



Although the Jogan borry has failed to 

 fully justify the highly optimistic views to 

 which expression was given by some cultiva- 

 tors on its introduction to Britisli gardens 

 it ha^ proved of much value as an aid in 

 increasing the supplies, of soft fruits dur- 

 ing the summer season. It has not, for ex- 

 ample, supplante<l the raspberry as some 

 writers thouglit it would do, but its failure 

 to accomplish that which would have btn^n 

 most undesirable, can hardly be regar^Unl 

 as a defect. It is, in the present state of 

 our knowledge, difficult to understand wliy 

 it should have been thouglit by anycme ac- 

 quainted with tlu' vjuioMs kinds of soft 

 fruits that th-' lo<^,iti hi'i iy would prove so 

 fur superior to the raspl)eriy that it would, 

 in <ourse of time, take its place, llie two 

 fruits belong to tlie same Natural Order, 

 and possess a family likeness, but in o^herre- 

 spects they are so distinct as to hardly come 

 into competition with each other. This 

 fact is now r-ecogiiise<l by tbose -who are well 

 acquainted witli tln^ two trims, and they 

 are plante<l in sin h proportions as may be 

 deemed advisa I)!*- lifter fullv considerinrr the 



there will be no difficulty in obtaining am- 

 ple supplies from the nurseries. It is ad- 

 visable, as in the case of raspberries, to cut 

 the caues down to within six inches or so 



from the ground level to obtain in the first 

 year strong groM-ths from the base. 



The subsequent management will consist 

 chiefly in cutting close to groimd the 

 growths that have fruited soon after the 

 crop has been gathered. Tliis is essential 



to allow space for the yoxmg growths to 

 attain their full size and become well 

 ripened. It sometimes haj^pens that 

 these are so numerous as to suggest in- 

 jury from overcrowding. AVhen this is 

 the case, reduce their number to about 

 two-thrds by the removal of those which 

 ]>iesent a weakly appearance. When the 

 old grow lbs have been removed, and the 

 young niH s have heen thinned, train them 

 to the wires, and in spring take from twelve 

 to eighteen inches off the top, the proper 

 rule being to cut them 1>ack to the firm wood. 

 To logan berries growing on light soils a 

 mulch of ])artlv-de<aved manure will be 

 of <'onsiderabl(^ Jissistance. R. W. 



demands that are made by the household • A BEAUTIFUL SPRING BED 



on the fruit supplies. 



The logan berry is. in its way, a most 

 valuable fruit, for. while it does not possess 

 the richness of flavour characteristii* of the 

 raspberry^ it has a flavour ol its own that 

 is much appreciated by many. It can 

 hardly be regarded as ;i high-class dessert 

 fruit, but for use in a cooked state, for con- 

 version into jam^ and for bottling, it cannot 

 be too strongly recommended. The fruit 

 possesses sufficient briskness to prevent it 

 becoming insipid when bottk^d in syrup or 

 made into jam, even when the suirar is 

 used rather too freely. 



As well known at the present time, the 

 growth is so robust as to resemble, in some 

 respects, that of th^^ strong-growing black- 

 berries, and theretore requires considerable 

 space for its full development. The growths 

 range, imder normal conditions, from 

 twelve to fifteen feet in length, and under 

 exceptionally favourable conditions I have 



gth 



With so wide a spread of branches*^ it fol- 

 lows that the plants require considerable 

 space and tall supports, and both must be 

 given them to ensure a full measure of suc- 

 cess. Boundary fences, ranging in height 

 from six to eight feet, may be utilised in 

 supjxjrting them with the most satisfactory 

 results. If they are to be grown in the 

 open quarters a trellis ahout eight feet 

 high should be provided, and if they are 

 to be grown in parallel rows a ten-feet space 

 should be allowe<l between them. In the 

 formation of the trellises larch poles five 

 or six inches in diameter and ten feet in 

 length, are used, and these are sunk in tlie 

 ground to a depth of two feet to ensure 

 their being so firmly fixed as to enahle them 

 to withstand the effects of strong winds. 

 To connect the uprights together three cr 

 four strands of strong wire are stret-chcd 



secu red 



equal 



moder 



room 



Ibout 



apart in the rows, but if it is desired to 

 fill the space as quickly as possible put 

 them six feet apart, and when they are 

 becoming crowded take out every other 

 plant. Autumn is the hest time for plant- 

 ing, and in carrying out this operation open 

 out a hole large enough for the roots to'he 

 srpread out hori 



As spring bedding, or rather the display 



it produces, is of comparatively temporary 



character, seldom lasting in full beauty 



more than a month, or six weeks at the 



most, it is one of its essentials that the 



plants to be used for the purpose sliould 



not be difficult to raise. Few people w^ho 



caP themselves gardeners leave their flower 



beds vacant during the winter and spring, 



but spring bedding is still regarded by some 



as extra wor k which should be reduced to a 

 minimum. 



The be<l to be des<"ribed consists in part, 

 or mainly if so desired, of the Leopard's 

 Bane, known as Doronicum plantagineum 

 excelsum, which has attained such wide- 

 spread popularity during the last dozen 

 years or so. Apart from the brilliant effect 

 it produces in April and Alay, its large 

 green leaves gire an appearance of modified 

 luxuriance during the Winter which is very 

 welcome. It is easy to propagate, the best 

 time being as early in March as the soil is 

 in good condition, when a nursery bed 

 should be prepared, and some spare clumps 

 taken up and pulled to pieces, every little 

 piece with any root attached forming a nice 

 plant by October, and needing no further 

 trouble or attention after being plante<l 

 unless the season is abnormally dry. A 

 further advantage is that this plant will 

 grow equally Mell in shade or sun, so that 

 the best positions need not be given up to 

 it, either for rearing the plants or flowerin^^ 

 them, ^ 



This Leopai-d's Bane forms the framework 

 of the bed an<l a setting for the bullbs to 

 be planted in it. The kind of bulbs to be 

 used depends upon the size of the clumps 

 of Leopard's Bane, and the distance apart 

 at which they are planted. For the sake of 

 colour contrast tulips are better than nar- 

 cissus, but in any case the bulbs should be 

 planted in groups or clumps rather than 

 singly. A good tulip to use for the pur- 

 pose IS the popular Keizerskroon, the gol- 

 den-yellow and crimson forming both a 

 blend and a contrast with the paler yellow 

 of the Leopard s Bane. If later tulips 

 used they should be tall Kin<ls snr^l. 

 Darwins, or s 



. ^ tally, fill in the soil about 



tliem with some care and tread firmly. 

 ^^uckers are not very freely produced, but 



of the ilay-flowering sec- 

 tion. Hyacinths are rather too formal for 

 a frtx^-growing bed of this kind, and rather 

 too short as well, but there is no fear of 

 any shade of tulip oi- hyacinth clashincr with 

 the clear yellow of the doronicum. 



Algeb Petts. 



RAIN AND IVI TREES. 



In the paper read by Sir Everard Iiri Thurii 

 K.C.M.G.3 at a recent meeting of the Eoyal 

 Horticultural Society on ''Plant Life in a 

 Tropical Island," the following reference 

 was made to the Bain and Ivi tree.> in Fiji. 



For my present purpose it is unnecessary 

 to dwell long on the beauty^ real though 

 this is, of Suva. The gardens and open 

 spaces, even over-filled with luxuriant but 

 too nnrestrained tropical vegetation, are 

 more or less bright throughout the year 

 Avitli the too ubiquitous hibiscus, ixora, 

 dracaena, oleander, croton, coleus and bara- 



9 



boo. There are, however, two features in 

 the vegetation outside the garden limits 

 proper which are so prominent as to demand 

 a few words of comment; these are the 

 " Eain-trees " . and the Ivi-trees the 

 latter the so-called ''Tahiti chestnuts." 



The rain-tree is the Inga Sanian or Pithe- 

 colobium Saman of botanists. It is a native 

 of tropical America, but because of its 

 beauty and the splendid shade which it 

 throws, it has been carried by white men to 

 almost all tropical places, and has been 

 largely planted as a town and road-side tree. 



But in Fiji the rain-trees, like most other 

 trees, do not grow as luxuriantly as in other 

 tropical places, because of the occasional 

 hurricanes. A row of these trees, planted 

 quite long enough ago to have become per- 

 fect specimens elswhere, stands on the sea 

 side of the road for more than half a mile 

 from the Suva landing wharf up to the en- 

 trance to the Government House land; and 

 twice during the six years I knew them 

 hurricanes have bowled them over like a set 

 of ninepins; and twice, at my intercession, 

 they have been successfully set up again. 

 But though under this treatment b^ nature 

 and art they have not come to perfection, 

 yet for a few mornings each spring 

 I have been refreshed by the pale briglit 

 green of the soft young leaves, and the little 

 tassels of pink flowers which at that season 

 burst from the swelling leaf-buds of the rain- 

 trees. 



By the %vay, as I still often see in the 

 corners of newspapers wonderful stories of 

 the alleged reservoir-like qualities which are 

 supposed to give the popular name to this 

 tree^ I may as well here explain the founda- 

 tion of these yarns. It is noticeable that 

 in very dry weather more moisture reache: 

 the ground covered by the spreading 

 branches of this tree than elsewhere. What 

 happens is that the leaflets seem to have 

 some power of accumulating the dew which 

 falls at night even in the driest weather. At 

 nightfall they fold together and hang do^- 

 ward (as in the better-known case of the 

 sensitive plant gradually discharging 

 the accumulated moisture from each leaf- 

 point, sometimes so abundantly that, to 

 anyone standing in the early morning under 

 one of these trees, the effect is as of a shower 

 of rain. 



The other tree which will certainly attract 

 the stranger in Suva is the ivi, or native 

 chestnut (Inocarpus edulis Forst). A group 

 of gnarled and evidently old ivi trees occu- 

 pies the greater part of the swampy pad- 

 dock which lies between the sea and the hill 

 on which Government House stands. The 

 large roots writhe like great snakes over 

 the ground; and from these roots rise the 

 great buttressed trunks which carry the few 

 twisted giant trunk branches. These mag- 

 nificent old trees are splendidlv beautiful in 

 themselves, and should interest the plant- 

 loving traveller in that each of their 

 branches is in itself a wonderful garden of 

 interlacing orchids, ferns, hoyas, and other 

 plants in almost incredible Variety. 

 Fijians formerly made much xise of the fruit 

 and timber of the tree, and planted it about 

 their houses. The particular clump of which 



The 



- The particuL,- ^ 



I have been speaking marks the site where 

 the native town of Suva stood till, in 1882, 

 the Fijian inhabitants were Iwught out ana 

 induced to remove to the other side of the 

 bay, in order to make room for the modern 

 town of Suva, the capital of the Colony. 



