HORTICULTURE IN EGYPT. 



still unfortunately remain in ignorance of the names of many of the 

 most beautiful trees and shrubs in their own gardens. Rut gradually 

 more and more interest has been taken, many new shrubs and plants 

 have been imported, and the difference in the gardens is very great. 



The owners now understand that few things will grow in desert sand ; 

 that Nile mud, with its rich propagating properties, must be introduced 

 it any result is to be obtained; and that the laying out of beds cannot 

 be left to the natives. 



Along the canal banks there are many tufts of Indian Doub Grass 

 (Cynodou Dactylon) ; these have been imported into the gardens of 

 Ramleh, and good croquet lawns are by no means uncommon. 



Indian Doub Grass has also been tried with success on the race- 

 course at Alexandria, and may be seen at the public gardens of the 

 Rarrage, near Cairo, which have been well laid out by Mr. Draper, a 

 former student at Kew. 



In 1901 the Alexandria Horticultural Society published a list of 

 plants cultivated in Egypt. This list, which was compiled from notes 

 kept for many years by Hear- Admiral Rlomfield, K.N., shows how varied 

 the vegetation is in Egypt. Numbers of plants that do not require a 

 tropical heat or a frost to check their growth can be found in the country. 

 Palms, Crotons, and Stephanotis can be seen side by side with Viburnums, 

 Honeysuckles, and Elders. 



Hybrid Perpetual Hoses have only one short flowering season, but Tea 

 Roses bloom in profusion for eight or ten months in the year. They do best 

 as dwarf Roses, and, if the soil is good, grow to a height of about six or seven 

 feet in three years. ' Marie Van Houtte ' and ' Madame Charles ' quickly 

 cover trelliswork, and flower practically all the year round. 'G. Na- 

 bonnard,' 'Dr. Gull/ ' Maman Cochet,' and 'Madame Jules (irolc/,,' a 

 hybrid Tea, but having all the appearance here of a true Tea Rose, and 

 many others make fine bushes. 



It is, however, for the flowering trees and shrubs that Egypt is the 

 most remarkable. Poinciana rcgia, Jacaranda miuiosa'folia, and Melia 

 Azedarach have already been mentioned. To these should be added 

 Bauhinia purpurea and B. variegata, Tecoma starts, Erytkrina iudica with 

 its cluster of red flowers but brittle wcod, Erythrina (Jomllodmdron, I). 

 Crista- cj alii, Schinusterebintkifolius (the substitute for Holly at Christmas), 

 Datura suaveolcns, Poinsettia, Plainer ia, Hibiscus in its many varieties, 

 and the Oleander, which the Arabs will not cut, as it is supposed to prcduce 

 a disease of the eyes. 



Duranta Plumieri is almost naturalised at Alexandria, and fine hedges 

 are made of Buddleia madagascariensis. 



The Bougainvillcea, with its purple or red bracts, and Bignonia vcuusta, 

 with its orange flowers, brighten the gardens of Cairo throughout the 

 tourist season, and besides these other climbers, such as Antigonon leptopus, 

 Beaumontia grand/flora, perhaps our finest climber, several varieties of 

 Passiflora, Jasmine, &c, can be seen in flower at different seasons. 



The " List of Plants " above referred to gives the names of thirty-one 

 Palms that have been known to exist in the gardens of Egypt since 1870. 

 Some of these may have disappeared, but their places have certainly been 

 taken by later importations, of which notice has been given to the 



