432 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAOE GARDENER. 
[ November 11, 18b6. 
huts, with framework of Cocoanut timber and sides and tops of Cocoa- 
nut leaves. The natives of this coast have an idea that the nearer the 
trees are to their homes the better will they grow and the greater will be 
the yield of fruit. A few acres of these trees is, to the native possessor, 
quite a fortune—say 500 to the acre, and the estimated revenue from nuts 
and toddy at Rsl, or 2s. per tree, or £50 per acre. Alongside the roads 
intersecting this belt of Palms are numerous fine specimens of the Jack 
Fruit tree, Artocarpus integrifolia, and the Bread Fruit tree, Artocarpus 
incisaefolia, the latter a very handsome tree. Many flowering trees may 
also be seen, such as Poinciana, Lagerstroemia regia, &c., &c. Between 
this coast line of Palms and the foot of the Western Ghauts is a compara¬ 
tively flat country varying from fifteen to twenty-five miles in width, and 
intersected by numerous backwaters navigable for small craft from the 
sea to the very foot of the hills. This tract is covered at intervals with 
scrub, hardwooded timber of various kinds, large Banana plantations, 
Bice fields, and Pepper gardens. The latter plant is grown in small 
gardens in close proximity to the native huts and villages, and is trained 
to the thorny stems of the Erythrina indica, forming high thick columns 
of beautiful foliage, and in the season clustered with the Pepper fruits 
like miniature bunches of Grapes, the supporting tree itself making 
yearly a splendid show of scarlet heads of blossom. 
A few days’ stay at Calicut gave me an excellent opportunity of in¬ 
specting and admiring this wonderful wealth of tropical vegetation, and 
although the heat was very oppressive during the day and the mosquitoes 
troublesome during the night, I yet felt regret when the time came for 
me to leave the scene that had so struck my imagination. 
My journey from Calicut to the foot of the Ghauts was performed in 
a bullock coach, and overnight. Arriving at daybreak at the rest house 
close under the foot of the mountains, I found a pony from the Coffee 
Estate awaiting my arrival to take me to the top of the pass, a distance 
of some nine or ten miles, through a magnificent forest the whole way. 
After leaving the rest house I rode through a belt of gigantic Bamboo 
clumps interspersed with handsome specimens of the Teak and other 
hardwooded trees ; the canes of these clumps rising in many instances to 
a height of from 60 to 70 feet, erect for about half the length, then grace¬ 
fully bending over like colossal sheaves of Wheat rivalling the coast belt 
of Palms in gracefulness and beauty. As I began the ascent of the pass, 
the Bamboos became smaller and smaller, and amongst the more stony 
and arid portion of the slopes might be seen numerous examples of Cycads 
rearing their splendid heads, whilst in the cool shady ravines Tree Ferns 
waved their beautiful fronds. As I ascended, this vegetation gradually 
gave place to the primaeval forest of the Western Ghauts, one of the 
wonders of India, so dense that the leafy tops of the mighty trees com¬ 
pletely shut out the middav rays of the tropical sun. 
I was alone in this half-darkened pass in the mountains, and all was 
silent in the early morning air save the occasional sound of an invisible 
mountain stream, as it sprang from rock to rock in the deep, dark ravine 
below, or now and then the boom, boom, of the great Wanderoo, or black 
monkey of Malabar, as it sprang from branch to branch far overhead. 
The scene was weird in the extreme in this grand Cathedral of Nature, 
but for me it had its charms. I had not unfrequently pictured to my 
mind what a real tropical forest must be like, but the reality far exceeded 
my expectations, and I felt on that—to me—memorable morning, as I 
frequently paused to gaze on the scene before me. 
Few signs of animal or bird life were to be seen save the monkeys 
before alluded to, or a pigeon or woodpecker of splendid plumage crossing 
the path, and now and then a flight of paraquets. These forests, unlike 
those of more temperate climates, are evergreen, with an almost impene¬ 
trable undergrowth, consisting of species of Bamboo, Calamus, Ficus, 
Tree Ferns, &c , &c., aad even the stems and tops of the giants of the 
forests are grasped and entangled with huge rope-like climbers, making 
altogether a wonderful mass of evergreen vegetation. At intervals might 
be seen the stem of a huge tree clasped from root to branches by a close- 
fitting network formed by a species of parasitical Ficus, which in the course 
of time so retards and clogs the functions of the tree it holds in such close 
embrace, as to invariably cause its death. Tois particular Fig, I have 
been told, is named by the planters of Ceylon a Colombo Agent, a very 
significant term ! The high bank or cutting formed in the process of 
making the road through the pass in the mountains was clothed with a 
mantle of Ferns, Lycopods, Mosses, Impatiens, and many other dwarf 
flowering plants, leaving not an inch of ground to be seen, such is the 
luxuriance of the vegetation in this region of the South-West Monsoons. 
The average rainfall towards the summit of the range being about 280 
inches. 
Gaining the crown of the ridge—at this point about 3000 feet above 
sea level—1 found the same black forest to extend for a considerable 
distance down the eastern slope, broken only at intervals by clearings 
of from 100 to 300 acres in extent for the cultivation of Coffee. Pro¬ 
ceeding eastward, this forest gradually gives place to a perfect sea of 
hardwood and Bamboo jungle—the latter predominating—and stretching 
right away to the Mysore frontier, and into the Mysore country as far as 
the eye can reach. Not far from the top of the Ghaut 1 rode on to the 
first Coffee estate I had seen, and was most hospitably received by the 
resident planter. The Coffee plant at that time of year (December) looks 
its best, picking operations are in full swing, and the estates are generally 
at that season free from weeds, and everything was tidy and in order. I 
was charmed with my first view of a plantation, for the Coffee is un¬ 
questionably a very beautiful shrub, and when in full berry, as it was on 
this my first acquaintance with it, I thought I had never beheld a more 
beautiful plant, and a few months later, when I saw it in full flower, I 
simply put it down as the queen of all evergreen shrubs. 
Towards the afternoon I continued my journey, and before nightfall 
arrived at another estate, in wbat is ca'led the Bamboo district, where I 
stayed the night, and was treated with the greatest kindness and hospi¬ 
tality by the manager, a Mr. James Boosey, who had been a very success¬ 
ful gardener in England, and as a C flee planter in the Wynaad was still 
more successful. I had the pleasure of his friendship throughout the 
whole of his subsequent residence in India, and was greatly grieved when 
I heard of his sudden death in England, about the year 1875, while on a 
visit for the good of his health. The estate he was then managing for 
a Bombay firm was about 150 acres in extent, and the Coffee trees, all in 
full bearing, very healthy, and the whole plantation in excellent condi¬ 
tion. The estate was situated in South Wynaad, and until Mr. Boosey 
set the example of systematic manuring and scientific culture, it was too 
much the custom to dibble in the Coffee seedlings, heedless whether the 
tap roots were turned up or not ; keep the plantation as clear of weeds as 
pos-ible, prune in some instances by hacking the trees to pieces alter crop 
was gathered, and in others leaving it entirely untouched, and trusting to 
Providence for a yearly bumper crop. With this mode of treatment 
splendid crops were undoubtedly gathered from the virgin soil of this 
district for years in succession without the aid of manure, but the ex¬ 
hausting system invariably told in the long run, in “gappy” estates, 
short crops, and at last utter decay. I can remember that Mr. Boosey’s 
idea was to begin at the beginning with proper cultivation and pruning, 
giving as much manure as was available after the plants yielded their 
maiden crop, and the result of his mode of treatment on this particular 
estate was heavy paying crops of Coffee annually for a great number of 
years, the estate, in fact, being the model one of the district. It may 
here be mentioned that at that period and for many years later it was the 
custom of the Bombay capitalists to send anyone they could find to the 
Wynaad to open and superintend estates for them, it mattered not what 
profession or calling they belonged to. At the time of my arrival in the 
country out of some eighty to 100 superintendents there were not more 
than three professional gardeners or agriculturists ; the rest were made up 
of ex-navy officers, captains of trading ships, young men from England 
who had been plucked for the Civil Service, carpenters, boys fresh from 
Eton and Oxford, ex-army captains and colonels, clerks from Bombay, 
civil engineers, drapers, and pickle merchants from Finsbury Pavement, 
&c. I by no means wish to infer from this that many of the above did 
not prove good and successful planters ; on the contrary, a certain per¬ 
centage took to the life of planting with a keen zest, were not above 
receiving and acting upon information from more experienced men, the 
result being success, but in the majority of instances the reverse might 
be said. I was instructed as to the proper mode of planting, pruning, 
and general cultivation of the Coffee tree after I had been in the district 
some twelve months by an ex-fourth officer of a P. and O. steamer, whose 
term of office as superintendent of a plantation had not much exceeded 
three weeks. 
After a very pleasant and instructive evening spent with Mr. Boosey, 
who, by the way, entertained me with the utmost hospitality, I next 
morning started on my journey north on horseback. The track lay 
through Bamboo jungle mostly, with occasional open glades. I had several 
large rivers to cross, and the ride, a distance of nearly forty miles, took 
me the whole day, and proved to be the hottest and most trying part of 
the whole journey from England.— Planter. 
(To be continued.) 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
November 9th. 
Exhibits were not very numerous before the Fruit and Floral Com¬ 
mittees on the above date, but the conservatory contained a magnificent 
display of Canadian Apples and Gourds, some of the latter being enormous 
grotesque fruits. 
Fruit Committee. —Present: T. Francis Rivers, Esq., in the chair, and 
Messrs. H. J. Yeitch, J. Smith, G. Norman, J. Burnet, G. T. Miles, J. E. 
Lane, J. Woodbridge, W. Warren, A. W. Sutton, R. D. Blackmore, Harrison 
Weir, and Phillip Crowley. 
Mr. Edward Woodall, St. Nicholas House, Scarborough, exhibited a 
bunch of a seedling Grape named Mrs. Clark, which was said to have been 
obtained from a cross between Black Hamburgh and Gros Colman, and was 
described as ripening four weeks later than Gros Colman in the same house. 
Tne Committee expressed a desire to see it again at the next meeting, and 
advised that specimens of the foliage be seat to Mr. Barron at once. Mr. 
Bowman, Hylands Park, Chelmsford, sent a bunch of Winter King Grape, 
which has been shown before on several occasions, and they considered it 
as identical with Gros Maroc. Mr. B. Gidley, Hoopern House, Exeter, sent 
a Pear named Gidley, but the three fruits were over-ripe, and six good 
samples are required according to the rules of the Committee. Mr. W. 
Roupell contributed fine samples of Apples Cox’s Orange, Cox’s Pomona, 
and Lady Henniker, for which a cultural c jmmendation was awarded. Mr. 
Perkins, Thornham Hall Gardens, Eye, Suffolk, showed four fruits of Dell’s 
Green-flesh Melon, which were found to be very unsatisfactory in flavour. 
Messrs. Lane & Son, Berkhamsted, were awarded a cultural commendation 
for sixty large and highly coloured fruits of Apple Prince Albert. Mr. 
H. M. Roberts, The Brewery, Ivinghoe, Tring, showed some samples of 
English dried fruits, such as Damsons, Apples, <fcc., a vote of thanks being 
accorded, and the experiment was considered very interesting. From Mr. 
Toogood, Peterborough, came a seedling Apple ; from Mr. H Divers, Ketton 
Hall, came two dishes of Plums and samples of Apple Carlton Seedling; 
and Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea, exhibited fruits of Apple Prince 
Bi&marck, all of which were passed without any award. 
Floral Committee.— Present : G. F. Wilson, Esq., in the chair, and 
Messrs. Shirley Hibberd, W. Wilks, H. Bennett, W. Bealby, G. Paul, H. 
