A CAPE GARDEN. 



63 



These sprigs of holly to my friends do duty as very acceptable Christmas 

 cards. Not far off the Holly flourishes in half a dozen of its newer 

 variegated varieties. Around the water, and not far from the Hollies, I 

 have the Bamboo (Arundinaria) dominated by a clump, some 30 feet 

 round and 60 feet in height, of the giant form, so largely used in China 

 for household furniture, vehicles, buildings, and other purposes, the 

 lighter form being used in South Africa for long ox-wagon whips and 

 fishing rods, and the still more feathery forms surrounding the water are 

 largely called into requisition for every decorative purpose. In close 

 proximity to the Holly, and nearly overshadowing it, are some noble 

 specimens of the Fiats natalensis of South Africa, closely allied to the 

 Ficus indica, the well-known Banyan tree of Hindustan, which it closely 

 resembles in its dark green glossy leaves and in its tendency to send' down 

 rootlets from its lower branches to the ground to form new trunks in 

 connection with the parent stem. 



Disputing possession of the rich ground near the water is a grand 

 clump of the Ginnamomum Camphora (Camphor- wood trees), whose beauti- 

 ful light yellowish-green foliage offers a pleasing contrast to the adjoining 

 sombre dark green Ficus. The Oak is gloriously beautiful in its spring 

 attire, when the green is unsoiled, but summer suns and approaching 

 winter soon tarnish the foliage. Not so with the Camphor, whose leaves, 

 from January to December, are perennially bright, the young shoots in the 

 spring time being particularly so. As an evergreen it has with us no 

 rival. 



Not far off the Platanus orientalis is very strongly in evidence, 

 having a circumference on its outer foliage of 120 feet. Under the 

 shade afforded by the foregoiug trees one thousand Rhododendrons, of 

 the choicest and newest varieties (six of pink pearl), gladden the eyes of 

 English visitors and establish beyond controversy the much-disputed 

 point — the adaptability of these grand shrubs to certain localities in 

 South Africa. I believe that they would do even better in Johannesburg, 

 where, owing to its altitude, the cold of winter would serve as a tonic 

 which the Cape Colony cannot give them. I am also succeeding very 

 well with my newly imported Indo-Javanese hybrids. The Azalea 

 family also seems to have found a home here. Some forty years ago my 

 father imported two specimens of the A. indica varieties, one pink and 

 one white, and I have since raised from these two plants over one 

 thousand specimens, some of the bushes measuring 20 feet in circum- 

 ference, one large one exceeding 30 feet, and in the flowering season 

 they make a gorgeous display. Any one visiting the garden after dark 

 during the flowering season would imagine that a snowstorm had taken 

 place, for the masses of white blooms four to five feet in height would, 

 in the partial light, look like banks of snowdrift. 



In England the Arum (Bichardia africana) is properly prized for its 

 chaste beauty, and it is cultivated with much care. I could show you a 

 picture of some three thousand of them growing with most lovely 

 luxuriance, and, for nearly eight months in the year, adorning the lower 

 swampy part of my garden, requiring no care whatever in their cultiva- 

 tion. Bordering the Arum field is an avenue of Hydrangeas, cobalt-blue 

 and white, some of the specimens having a circumference of at least 



