572 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



days a river plunged headlong down and then ran underground, just as 

 often occurs in limestone countries, such as Derbyshire. Ferns and other 

 plants now clothe its sides, affording a curious and interesting feature in 

 the garden. 



The late Mr. Harry's garden, at St. Julian's, and Captain Price's, at 

 Pieta, are, I believe, the largest gardens in the island, excepting, perhaps 

 that of the Governor's summer residence at San Antonio ; but for 

 picturesqueness they are unsurpassed. Mr. Harry's consisted of at least 

 fifteen separate portions at different elevations, divided off by walls or 

 terraces, the largest of which is shown in fig. 162. The Rose garden 

 is, perhaps, the largest, being about sixty by forty feet. One or 

 more of the " gardenettes," to coin a convenient term, as also in Captain 

 Price's, are devoted to the cultivation of mandarin, blood, egg, and other 

 kinds of oranges, lemons, white nectarines, loquats, and almonds. 

 All the walls, ranging from some three to fifteen or more feet in height, 

 are covered with purple-flowering Bougainvillaeas, Tritomas, Passion- 

 flowers, the blue Plumbago, Pelargoniums, Ficus repens, and Ivy. 



There are many interesting trees and shrubs in both gardens ; as, for 

 example, in Mr. Harry's there is a very old India-rubber, Ficus elastica, 

 its many branches growing to a great height. It is situated at the end 

 of the long terrace, which terminates in a little paved court. An ancient 

 well stands on the opposite side, at a distance of thirty feet. (Fig. 163.) 

 The roots of the Ficus have, nevertheless, discovered it, for they have 

 spread under the paving seen in the foreground, and thrust themselves 

 through the sides of the well, down which they have then descended. 



In another of the gardenettes is a large Acacia from Australia, and a 

 Casuarina, which was planted in 1872 as a seedling. It is now about 

 thirty feet high, the circumference of the base of the trunk being thirty 

 inches, and at four and a half feet twenty-one inches ; a fair growth for 

 some twenty years. (Fig. 164.) 



In another part of the garden is a "blue Hibiscus" (H. Pater sonii) 

 at least thirty feet high, and a handsome Wigandia, which, like the Ficus> 

 is diving under the walks and walls, and sending up young trees in 

 unexpected places. 



One does not expect to see much bloom in the depth of winter, but the 

 reader would be surprised to see the dense masses of blossom upon yellow 

 Cassias, scarlet Bignonia radicans, and its yellow ally B. stans, as well as 

 on the ' Trompe de Jugement,' the large white double Datura. Lastly, 

 Bougainvilheas exhibit dense masses or sheets of purple on the walls. The 

 Hose garden is bordered on one side by a row of great variegated Agaves, 

 the low wall being covered with masses of S&mpervivum arborcum, which 

 now grows almost spontaneously in Malta, having been introduced probably 

 more than sixty years ago. It bears trusses of golden-yellow flowers, 

 nearly as large as that of the Horse Chestnut ; the foliage is in terminal 

 rosettes. Poinsettias grow twelve feet high, with a profusion of scarlet 

 leaves, and fine varieties of Crotons and Bilbergias, B. Leopoldi being 

 in blossom, brighten up the stone corridors and passages, where freely- 

 growing Adiantums, Aspleniums, and other Ferns form a perfect bower 

 for the visitor to walk through. One corridor, the entrance to Mr. 

 Harry's house, is at least 100 feet long, with Ferns to the right, Ferns to 



