August 17, 1882. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
159 
made in France by Messrs. L. Fautrat and A. Sartiaux, which were 
continued over a period of three years in the forests of Hallate, 
having an extent of surface of 5000 hectares. It is an established fact 
that of the rain which falls over a normal forest only about half of 
the quantity reaches the ground, the other parts remaining on the 
leaves, branches, and trunks of the trees. Mr. Fautrat, therefore, 
erected a platform which reached 2 metres higher above the tops of 
an Oak and Beech forest of twenty-six years standing. The follow¬ 
ing meteorological instruments were fixed on the platform—viz., rain 
guage, psychrometer, maximum and minimum thermometer, and an 
evaporometer, to learn the exact quantity of rain falling over the 
forest, the degree of the moisture, the temperature of the air, and the 
evaporation of the water. Three hundred metres from the forest, on 
a plain denuded of trees, another platform of the same height was 
erected, with the same instruments. The observations of the first six 
months, from February to July, the rain which fell over the forest 
was 7-578 in., and over the plain (300 metres distant from the forest) 
it was G - 95G in., or O'GIO in. less than that which fell over the forest. 
The bygrometrical observations proved that above the tops of the 
trees a large portion of vapour exists, which does not appear on the 
plain. From the 1st of March till the 1st of December the average 
of the damp atmosphere was 66°, and over the plain 01.72°. An inter¬ 
esting fact was observed—that the highest degree of vapour in the 
forest exists during the spring, when the young growth of the trees 
appears, and when the trees exhale the greatest quantity of carbon. 
These vapours are beneficial for the cultivated lands surrounding the 
forest; they spread over the neighbouring ground, and fall during 
night as a fertilising dew. Mr. Fautrat, after his observations in the 
Hallate forest, made similar observations in the Pine forest of Ermens- 
ville, to ascertain if a Pine forest has the same condensing property 
as a deciduous forest. Similar platforms like those in the forest of 
Hallate and the same meteorological instruments were used. The 
other was erected in a treeless sandy plain near by. The result of 
these observations during fourteen months was—viz., the fall of rain 
over the Pine forest was 33'098 in., and in the plain 29'832 in. Mr. 
Fautrat also came to the conclusion that the Pine forests possess still 
a greater condensation influence than the deciduous forests. The 
hygrometrical observations showed that the average humidity was 
03°, and that of the plain 53° ; but the evaporation of the Pine forest 
is much quicker than that of another forest. 
A GOOD TOWN PLANT. 
I have been trying several plants in my smoke-enveloped 
garden, but the one that thrives the best is, I am told, a Veronica. 
Fig. 27.—Veronica spicatn. 
It has numberless spikes of blue flowers 18 inches long, several 
of them branching freely. The stems are 3 feet high, the leaves 
somewhat like those of Willows, and rather deeply toothed. [ 
have several plants which have afforded an abundance of flowers 
for months, and the spikes are most agreeable for arranging in 
vases in rooms. One plant produces white flowers, which are 
great favourites with my family. I first saw the plants growing 
in a London, not a suburban garden, quite surrounded by build¬ 
ings, and nearly always under a cloud of smoke, and they seemed 
as if they liked it rather than otherwise. They certainly grow 
with great freedom, in this respect quite equalling Chrysan¬ 
themums as town flowers. I mention the circumstance for the 
benefit of those who attempt flower-growing under difficulties, 
and am disposed to venture the assertion that where scarcely 
anything else will grow this free, hardy, and useful plant will 
flourish.—A City Man. 
[The plant is no doubt Veronica spicata, of which we submit 
a sketch, and we know it grows freely in town gardens.] 
VEGETATION IN CEYLON AND INDIA. 
A WELL-KNOWN continental naturalist, Professor Haeckel, has 
recently returned from an expedition to Ceylon and India, and 
has published a series of letters in the Deutsche Bundschau, 
recounting the chief features of interest he observed there ; and 
as he gives some notes upon the vegetation, an abstract of this 
portion, recently published in Nature , may be interesting to some 
readers of the Journal. 
During one portion of his stay he visited the Island of Ele- 
phanta, and after describing its interesting rock temple, he goes 
on to mention the impression made on him by the tropical 
flora :— 
“ In another way this excursion to Elephanta was of the greatest 
interest and never to be forgotten, for this day, the 9th of November, 
was the first on which I saw the magic of the tropic flora in all the 
freedom of Nature. I had occupied the afternoon of the previous 
day in visiting the Victoria Garden, which is a fine though not very 
carefully cultivated botanical garden. It cannot indeed be compared 
in richness and arrangement with other botanical gardens in India, 
but still it was there that I saw for the first time a number of the 
most beautiful and grandest tropical growths. But my delight was 
infinitely greater and more vivid when in Elephanta I saw the most 
important and characteristic Indian plants growing wild in an un¬ 
artificial state, with a luxuriance impossible to a limited garden. 
There clinging creepers and climbing Ferns clothed the mighty 
trunks of the Teak trees ; there the noble Cocoa Nut Palm bends its 
slender trunk and splendid feathery glittering crown above the sea¬ 
shore, which is bordered by bushes of the Pandanus, and secured by 
walls of Mangroves rooted in the water; there big parasite Figs, 
Convolvulus, and other climbing plants, with large gay flowers, run 
up the straight black stems of the mighty Palmyra Palms, the proud 
summits of which, with their fan-shaped leaves, are also covered with 
the climbing flowers. And there rise noble examples of the sacred 
Banyan ; their mighty trunks are divided into an actual network of 
great roots, while from among the dark green leaves of the stout 
branches above hangs a mass of air roots, many of which reach the 
ground, and, taking root, form new supports for the mother crown. 
And look there ! a gigantic strangler (parasite Fig) smothers a noble 
Palm with its network of twigs, and a few steps farther stands a 
brother of this strangler, like a hollow cylindrical pillar without 
leaves, for the Palm it had embraced had died and decayed, and the 
cruel murderer now suffers the same fate. The pretty Bamboo forms 
large bouquets; Bananas and Strelitzias spread their fresh green 
leaves ; large gay flowers unfold their scented cups ; feathery Acacias 
form shady roots, and prickly Cactus-like Euphorbias are woven into 
thick hedges. Here I saw in concrete reality a number of the most 
remarkable and loveliest forms of the tropic flora of which I had 
read and dreamed for thirty years ; and in the sunny air sported 
thousands of the most beautiful butterflies ; great golden beetles 
darted through the bushes; hundreds of swift lizards and snakes 
glided among the leaves ; noisy flocks of splendidly feathered birds 
flew from tree to tree—all new forms which I had never seen alive, 
and yet seemed old acquaintance. I snatched at everything like a 
child, and laid my hands upon the trunks of the Palm and Bamboos 
to convince myself that all was not a dream of fairy-land ! ” 
In Ceylon the Cocoa-nut and other Palms especially attracted 
his attention. He says— 
“ The number of Cocoa Palms on the island is calculated at 
40,000,000, each Palm yielding from eighty to a hundred nuts (eight 
to ten quarts of oil). It is not found in the northern half of the 
island, nor on a great part of the eastern coast. Its place is here 
supplied by the not less useful Palmyra Palm (Borassus flabelliformis). 
This is the same which covers the hot and dry districts of Hindostan, 
growing in great profusion near Bombay. Even from a distance the 
two Palms vary greatly. The Palmyra is a Fan Palm, with a strong, 
very straight black stem, topped by a thick bunch of fan-shaped 
leaves. The Cocoa, on the other hand, is a Feather Palm ; its slender 
white stem, 00 to 80 feet high, is gracefully curved and adorned with 
a bushy crown of feathery leaves. The iovely Areca Palm (Areca 
catechu) has similar but stiffer and smaller leaves, and a tapering 
reed-like stem ; it is an invariable feature of a Singhalese garden, 
carefully tended for the sake of the nut, which, being chewed to¬ 
gether with the leaf of the Betel Pepper, colours the teeth and 
saliva red. Another Palm, the Kitool (Caryota urens) is cultivated 
chiefly on account of its abundant sugar-sap, from which palm-sugar 
(Djaggeri) and Palm wine (Toddy) are prepared. Its stiff strong 
stem supports a crown of double-feathered leaves resembling those 
of the Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum Capillus-Veneris.) After the 
Palms the most important trees in the little gardens of the Singha¬ 
lese are the Breadfruit and the Mango. Of the former there are two 
kinds, the ordinary Breadfruit (Artocarpus incisa), and the Jak Tree 
