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PAGES FROM MY NOTE-BOOK. — Pitcher-plants. 



I often think of old Stephen Jones, 1113' first schoolmaster. Peace to his memory, ho 

 was a good old man ! Under him were my first lessons in googTaphy learnt ; every Tuesday 

 and Friday morning we had a certain task to learn about the boundaries, the number of 

 the population, and the religion of the people of some particular country, all of which, as 

 is the case with most boys, we managed to forget before the close of the week. Put the 

 geographical lessons by which I really benefited, and which I have turned to profitable 

 account since, were learnt beside my father's hearth when the silent mantle of snow lay 

 uuon the fields around, or in the summer-house at the bottom of the garden when the glow 

 of sunset was on the summer evening sky; for old Stephen had been a steward ou board a 

 man-of-war, and many a long yarn ho used to spin as my father and ho sat smoking their 

 pipes, and we boys, full of admiration, stood listening around. Stephen had spent many 

 years at sea — he "had seen God's wonders in the great deep — there was scarcely a remarkable 

 place in the world which he had not visited. He had boon an observant man, too ; and, 

 being better educated than most men in his sphere of life, could graphically describe the 

 physical characteristics, the productions, and the climate of many lands. All his stories 

 were treasured in our memories ; there was no fear of these being forgotten, and in my 

 particular case these stories developed that intense love of travel which has, to a certain 

 extent, been satisfied by my wanderings in many a foreign land, but which will never bo 

 quenched. I have always thought that every man who travels should set himself to observe 

 and examine a certain class of facts, and he should choose those kinds of facts for which he 

 had a natural predilection. I had a love of plants and flowers from my childhood, and 

 consequently, having chosen horticulture for my profession, I have always paid more attention 

 to these than anything else. I think I may, without boasting, say that I have had the 

 opportunity of observing myself a good many interesting facts with regard to plants, and my 

 note-books contain many jottings concerning them. More than this : I have, whenever 1 have 

 found men with a similar love of observation, made friends of them, and I have thus become 

 acquainted with people in many parts of the globe ; I value their letters very highly, and keep 

 them carefully arranged. With the same object in view I have read all the books of travels, 

 new or old, which I could obtain, and gleaned from them as much as I could concerning the 

 vegetable products of the countries treated upon— little enough this is usually. Few books 

 of travels have been written by men fully qualified to do justice to their subjects. Many 

 authors consider that a few months spent in a foreign land, a hurried run through a few of 

 the more noted places, and a glimpse at some of the leading features of the country, are quite 

 enough to justify them in producing a two or three guinea book npon the subject ; on the 

 other hand, the mere length of time which a person has lived in a foreign land is not in 

 itself a sufficient preparation for such a work. Of this I might mention some notable 

 instances, but this is no place wherein to give a criticism upon, travellers and travelling ; it 

 is sufficient for my purpose to say that the men who have diligently prepared themselves by 

 previous study are few indeed. The world has not produced many travellers like Humboldt 

 or Hooker, Avho have been able to observe and record those kinds of facts which are, at the 

 same time, valuable and interesting to the plant-grower and to him who loves the plants for 

 their own sake. The facts with regard to the temperature and moisture of the air, the 

 particular circumstances under Avhich such and such a plant grows in a state of nature, and 

 the mode of cultivating the fruit trees, the officinal and the ornamental plants of foreign 

 lands, must be sought for through many volumes. 



So much by way of preamble, and as an answer to the very natural question which the 

 reader may be expected to ask, What do these note-books contain ? They are filled, then, 

 with practical observations upon plants, descriptions of new or rare ones, notes upon their 

 peculiarities, observations upon the exhibitions and other passing events of horticultural 

 interest, quotations from rare books of travel which describe the climate or the vegetable 

 productions of foreign lands, or which may throw light upon the successful manner of treating 

 them under cultivation, and extracts from private letters having the same objects in view. 

 Let us copy a page from these note-books by way of example :■ — ■ 



It would be a difficult matter to find in the whole vegetable world a more interesting 

 group than that of the Pitcher-plants. The curious appendages to the leaves, which present 

 a more or less perfect resemblance to the form of a pitcher with its lid, have given rise to 

 strange traditions among the natives of the countries where these plants grow wild ; and 

 among the civilised and educated people who have seen them under cultivation, they have 

 been the subject of stories which contain scarcely more of truth than those wild Malayan 

 traditions. It is a generally received idea among many, that in the Pitcher-plant Nature 

 has provided a supply of water by means of which the traveller in the desert may slake his 

 thirst ; the lids open, they -say, at night, in order to catch the dew, and close again during the 

 day to prevent evaporation. Nothing could be much wider from the truth than these state- 

 ments ; in the first place, the plants will only grow where there is a plentiful supply of 



