November 2, 189 r.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
351 
to four foot long and ono to two in widtli, forming 
a rather compact liead of dark green color, and the 
Btem is quite atout in proportion to its length. .1/. 
Cai'eiulishii is also propagated by moans of suckers, 
the latter being thrown up at tho time of fruiting, 
and frequently before this occurs. 
M. eoecinta is another highly ornamental species, 
and was introduced from Cochin China many years 
ago. This species is of compai-ativoly slender growth, 
and has bright green leaves about throe foot long 
and six inches wide, tho entire heiglit of tlie plant 
being from four to six feet. The moat striking 
feature of M. eoccinca is tho flower-cluster, wliich is 
terminal and about ono foot long, and covered with 
spathes of bright scarlet, making it tho most showy 
member of the genua in this resiiect. It may bo 
well grown as a pot plant if it be not convenient to 
plant it out, by giving it a littlo extra stimulation 
in tho form of liquid manure from time to time. 
The Abyssinian llamina, .1/. /'.'u.vr/c, is now well 
known as a plant for decorative use, cither in-doors 
or out, and is grown from seeds in quite large 
quantities in some commercial establishments. This 
is probably tho largest species of this- genus, the stem 
sometimes reaching a height of twenty feet, while 
the loaves are truly immense. Tho latter are bright 
green in color, with a red midrib and stem, and stand 
out boldly in a semi-erect manner. The fruit of this 
species is of no value except to furnish seeds, these 
forming the only moans of propagation, as M. Knucte. 
does not produce suckers. .1/. HUjir.rha is also a strong- 
growing species, and hoars some resemblance to the 
preceding, though possibly more compact in habit, 
and is a native of India. The two last-iucntioncd 
are tho best species to use out-of doors, their leaves 
'“"’k tougher tlian those of most of tho others, though 
-If. (’aveiiill.ihii may also be used in this manner 
if it has ^ not been grown in a close, warm house 
just previous to removal outside. .1/. xeUrina. also 
from India, is another handsome foliagod species, 
tho leaves of which are oblong ill shape, and dark 
green in color, irregularly blotched with bronzy red 
and purple. The stem ot M. xehrina is slender, and 
the plant soldom exceeds ten feet in height. Its pe- 
culiar coloring makes it an admirable contrast when 
grown in company with M. Sajiientnm rittata. 
There aro some eighteen species in all, hut those 
specially referred to aro the most useful for deco- 
rative purposes, and aro all worthy of more extended 
cultivation, 
Ilolmesbnrg, I’a. W. II. Tapi.in. 
— (lanleii and Fomt. 
Copper Siu.i'iiatk as a FexatciDE. — “ The various 
compounds of copper offer efficient protection to 
many cultivated crops against the exceedingly des- 
tructive ravages of fungous parasites. Witliout treat- 
ment . these rots, rusts, mildews, and blights, frequent- 
ly destroy a largo proportion of, or even tho entire 
products of field and fruit plantations. T’he applioa, 
tioiis, in the shape of watery sprays, are made so 
readily, and with so littlo expense in money and 
labour, that everyone iuterc-ted should at onco un- 
dertake the work. The practical results already 
attained, constituo the greatest advance made in recent 
times in tho application of science to horticulture. 
A little well-directed effort uuiy be confidently ox- 
pcotod to return a hundred, or a thousand times its 
cost. Still there is need for much vigilanco and 
careful attention to every detail. Mistakes may bo 
made oven then, and sometimes failures may occur, 
lor which existing knowledge may offer no explana- 
tion. Hut wo should persevere, gain ail possible 
information upon the subject, and watch weli tiie 
effects in every tost. In this way, every ono may 
hope to conquer, practically, those insidious and, 
heretofore, invicible, foq.s.’’ Such aro tho conciusions, 
after numerous experiments, made by Dr. liurrill 
of tho Illinois Agricultural Station, and they are in 
conformity with general experience in America and 
in h’ranco. When irill our people wake up -l—dardenirt' 
('hi'onicle. 
BERMUDA IN JIAY. 
I'o the Editor of Garden and Forest, 
Sir,— It is not surprising that the genial climate of 
Bermuda should attract so many winter visitors from 
our northern states. A sea-voyage of less than throe 
days, and one which a fast steamer might easily 
make within forty-eight hours, suffices to bring them 
to shores that are green tho year through, and yet 
an air so equable that the fervors of tho summer sun 
are rarely oppressive or enervating, because tho heat 
is so constantly tempered by breezes from the sea. 
The change in the political aud social atmosphere 
is qiiite as striking, for the American citizen will 
suddenly find himself in a loyal English colony where 
even tho negi-oes— perhaps the most active and in- 
telligent specimens of their race to bo found in all 
the world— speak with a perfect English accent w hero 
fleet or fortress is forever in sight to manifest the 
imperial imwer of Britain, and where a large propor- 
tion of the men ono meets on tho street wear tho 
uniform of her army or navy. 
The great mass of those who flee to Bermuda to 
escape tho rigors of winter return in April, so that 
the impressions ono receives from a flying visit in late 
May may lie worth recording, Tho islands arc not at 
their best until Juno, it is said, and, perhaps, tho 
time is not far away when this will he a fa- 
vorite haunt for the summer tourist from New York 
who could hardly find elsewhere a week or a fortnight 
of rest and change so perfect and so convenient as 
that furnished by a trip over cool seas to these breezy 
islands. •' 
One need not expect any touch of the sublime in 
the landscapes hero, for it would not he possible to 
crowd many natural objects which insiiire awe by 
their vastnoss or sublimity within a long and narrow 
chain of islands containing altogether an area of 
some twenty square miles. But the land, what there 
is of it. is pleasantly diversified in surface, rising at 
one point to an altitude of some 200 feet; and tho 
ever-present sea of itself suffices to insure every wide 
prospect against the charge of being tame or com- 
monplace. One charm of tho sea, by the way, is its 
marvollous and indescribable color, for the water over 
these coral reefs outrivals tho azure of the sky in the 
richness and depth of its blue. There are occasional 
inland views where, in happy valleys, the sea is shut 
out of Right by encircling fiillH, and hero, at times, 
one IS reminded of New Englund, with roads winding 
along I ine-woods with an undergrowth of Ferns No 
Bines are hero, it is true, but the Bermuda Cedar, 
at a little distance, constantly auggeats the I'ine, 
and on a nearer view it shows so close a relation 
to our common Red Cudar that tliero is nothing 
strange or unfamiliar in its presence, although the 
sjiocka is conlined mainly to thete islands. When 
Jimn Horinudez, nearly KN) years ago, was feeling 
Ills way along the troaclicrous reefs which surround 
them, he saw the islands covered with forests of these 
toes, which then attained to stately proportions. 
Those forests have been cut and re-cut since, and vet 
they form the most conspicuous growth upon tlio 
island to-day ; indeed, the larger proportion of the 
surface sconia forest-elad, for wherever the land is 
left to itself the Cedar "comes in." It would be 
naturally supposed from the shiploads of onions aud 
potatoes that reach our iiuuUets from Bermuda in 
the spring that every rod of tlio scanty territory was 
under plow or spade, tmt tlio visitor's first surpriso, 
and one from wliieh lie can hardly' recover during a 
Iji'icf sojourn, is, that ho rarely finds those articles of 
export growing in large fields— indeed, an acre 
would pass for a codsidorahle plantation here — but 
generally in little pockets a rod or hjj across, where 
tho red soil is deep enougli to furnish root-room for 
the plants, while all about them tho rock is thinly 
covered or thrusts its massive shoulders quite above 
the ground. 
Next to tlio forests, elotliiiig tlie hills which slope 
toward the shore, ono who for tho first time sailsiii 
sight of them thrjiigli tho tortuous channel whioh 
leads to Uamiltoii is struck with the white hnns..,. 
which nestle in their foliage. These are all bi lit of 
