(38 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



1 Kauri Pine,' whose resin yields a revenue of £200,000 per annum to the 

 New Zealand Government ; then there are fine specimens of the New Zea- 

 land Dracana, Cordyline australis, and New Zealand Kentias. Cannas 

 Brow luxuriantly eight to nine feet in height with Banana-like foliage. 



I have not touched upon the many beautiful Palms which give a 

 pleasing variety to the foliage. Phoenix reclinata is a native ; the finest 

 clump on the lawn is 60 feet in circumference ; Archontophcenix Cun- 

 niwjhami, syn. Seaforthia elegans, flowers freely and is very graceful 

 when its stem is covered with its tassel-like pinky blossoms ; Latania 

 borbonica, Cocos plumosa, and Cliamcerops australis flower and 

 fruit freely. The true Date Palm grows well and fruits, but the 

 fruit will not ripen in our summer. I can give but a passing 

 notice to Paulownia imperialis, with trusses of bloom three feet in 

 length ; Jacaranda mimoscefolia, with its trusses of pendulous blue 

 flowers ; golden and common Catalpas ; Schinus Molle, with its Pepper- 

 scented leaves ; Magnolias in variety ; Gardenias double and single, 

 native and imported ; Hibiscus splcndens ; Strelitzia alba, 20 feet 

 high ; Sequoia gigantea, from seeds collected by myself in the Yosemite 

 Valley ; Sequoia sempervirens ; Oaks in seven varieties, a Quercus 

 Robu/r, as strong as in Sherwood Forest ; Weeping Willows of most 

 graceful forms ; Horse Chestnuts in four varieties ; Fagas sylvatica 

 purpurea and F. s. tricolor, six specimens doing w T ell (this last no English 

 visitor had seen in his own country, nor have I seen it in any private 

 garden here) ; Ginkgo biloba, syn. Salisburia adiantifolia ; Silver, Golden, 

 and Common Elms ; Crataegus in variety ; Orange trees of various kinds ; 

 Ailanthus glandulosa and Primus Pissardi. 



I had almost forgotten the queen of flowers, Roses, which grow most 

 luxuriantly in our climate. The ' Cloth of Gold ' is our great yellow 

 Rose ; in England it will scarcely develop its grand blossom, but with us 

 it is in evidence everywhere. You might count eighty blooms over the 

 porch of my house. 1 Crimson Rambler ' has made 15 feet of growth in 

 three months, and the ' Duchesse d'Auerstadt,' a splendid yellow, simply 

 runs riot. 



Marliac's lovely hybrid Water-lilies and other Nympluece cover my 

 ponds for seven months in the year, and I hope to try the grand Victoria 

 Efcegia. 



We cannot grow your Lawn Grass with effect, for our sun soon kills 

 it. but we have green lawns which are infinitely softer to the tread than 

 Turkey or velvet-pile carpets, being covered with 'Buffalo. Grass,'* 

 which throws out long steins, not rising from the ground, but running 

 along its surface, and every joint roots as the shoots of Strawberry runners 

 root ; the result is a dense matting which the sun cannot penetrate, and 

 which protects any moisture there is in the soil. 



Before concluding I must say a word on the grand old wall of 

 "Table Mountain," which practically bounds the property. I once had 

 the great pleasure of escorting the Countess of Lytton round the estate, 

 and, gazing from a coign of vantage facing the stupendous background, 

 she remarked : " Mr. Arderne, we too have most beautiful spots in the 



* A Dative South African name, anil not to be confounded with the upright- 



urowinj,' Buffalo Gras3 of America. 



