90 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
the big myrtle of Craignish, and which never fails to be white with 
blossom all September, October, November, and even December. 
Some would call it a Eugenia, but its most up-to-date name is, I 
think, Myrtus Luma. It is a really grand and most satisfactory 
shrub. 
The autumn-flowering Cyclamens (viz. Cyclamen hederaefolium) 
are flowering rather nicely just now, as their cousins, C. europaeum, 
did in July ; but I have never had what I could call real success here 
with Cyclamens, and they are among that small list of plants which 
I persevere with, but which never seem quite happy, and so different 
from what I have seen in Cornwall, where their leaves cover the 
ground under giant Pinus insignis trees, just like ivy. I am convinced 
it is the soil and not the climate which partially offends them, and 
perhaps if I give them soil which has no peat, and plenty of old lime 
rubbish, they may do better. I noticed in Palestine that Cyclamen 
persicum throve to perfection in holes and chinks in pure limestone 
rocks, and what a sight they were in Galilee in early March ! 
Just to show what a cold late season this has been, my Clerodendron 
trichotomum has all but failed to flower, though further south I saw 
it doing better ; and Eryngium pandanifolium, with which I will 
finish up October, is also behindhand. The latter is certainly a very 
striking object for a lawn or shrubbery. It comes from far, far away — 
viz. the Chatham Islands, 500 miles east of New Zealand — and in an 
ordinary year with me it just manages (more or less) to perfect its 
steely-blue sea-thistly flowers towards the very end of October. What 
a magnificent clump I saw of it at Craignish lately, with a big sheaf 
of blooming stalks ten feet high ! — and I can thoroughly recommend 
it for a sub-tropical nook, among Phormiums, Cordylines, Eucalypti, 
Paulownias, Mimosas, Abutilons, Chamaerops palms, tree-ferns, and 
even Musa Basjoo (the hardy banana), all of which can be grown 
without protection on this West Coast. The only one of the lot 
which I have not got is the Musa, and I am getting it. 
November. 
No frost as yet (November 25) at sea-level, though there has 
been a degree or two inland, and consequently we can still, in Novem- 
ber, produce specimens of most of the well-known flowers grown in 
British gardens, Dahlias, Begonias, Gladioli, Roses, and Mignonette, 
mixed up with some Primroses, Polyanthuses, and Violets, which are 
evidently mistaking November for February or March ! How thank- 
ful I am that I live in a climate where the Fuchsias are at their best 
in November, and where the tall tropical-looking Mexican Brug- 
mansias, with their handsome long pendent scarlet tubes, make one 
believe it is still hot weather, whereas it is really winter, though the 
thermometer goes up sometimes to 50 and even one day to 55 ; and 
this, together with the great blessing of having usually an early spring 
