128 
JOURXAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Fvbruary 12, 1S91. 
including £500 promised by His Grace the late Duke of Bedford. In 
the assurance of this promise the Chairman had authorised the dispatch 
to the London County Council of the formal offer of the Association to 
undertake the work, as agreed upon at the last meeting. It was re¬ 
solved to continue negotiations respecting the proposed conversion of 
Bartholomew Square, E.C., De Beauvoir Square, N., and Sidney and 
Bedford Squares, E., into public gardens ; to assist the Poplar District 
Board of Works in the laying out of a new recreation ground in Bow 
Road, and to communicate with the Chelsea Vestry respecting the seats 
removed from Sloane Square. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners, it was 
reported, had given three months’ further extension of the time in 
which they wouid be prepared to sell about nine acres of land between 
Crown Road and Fulham Palace Road for a recreation ground at a low 
rate, and that the Fulham Vestry were ready to give half the money 
if the London County Council subscribed the balance. 
- Royal Botaxic Society op Losdo 5.—At a meeting of 
this Society last Saturday, Mr. T. H. Burroughes in the chair, it was 
announced that included in the donations received since the last 
meeting were seeds of the Para Rubber tree, presented by Mr. Plowes, 
a Fellow of the Society. The Secretary (Mr. Sowerby) said that at 
the present moment anything relating to the growth or cultivation of 
indiarubber and gutta percha was of the utmost importance to civilisa¬ 
tion. In the Society's museum is a specimen of the first sample of 
gutta percha imported to Europe—viz., in 1312, and shortly after that 
date it was used to insulate the first submarine telegraph cables, and 
up to the present moment no substitute has been found to take its 
place. From some interesting papers lately published in the Electrical 
Review, he gleaned that from the wholesale cutting down of adult 
trees” and the ‘’reckless clearing and burning of the forests” the 
trees furnishing the most valuable kinds of gutta percha had become 
exceedingly scarce, and in most localities utterly extirpated. This is 
also rapidly becoming the case with the trees which supply the many 
varieties of indiarubber, and only illustrates the fact, continually 
being mentioned by him, that, sooner or later, all natural vegetable 
products used by man must be artificially cultivated, as the natural 
supply never kept pace with the artificial demand. Some few attempts 
had been made to cultivate indiarubber, but as yet not very success¬ 
fully ; and the behaviour of the several kinds of trees furnishing elastic 
gums in the Society’s collection—natives of Central America, Tropical 
India, and Africa—all proved that it was no easy task civilisation had 
to contend with, but which, if it wished to continue to enjoy the benefits 
of telegraphic communication, it must sooner or later solve. Dr. Prior 
made some interesting remarks upon the Egyptian Papyrus plants now 
growing in the gardens. 
- Hints about Feeesias.—F or some time past varied opinions 
have been expressed respecting the culture of the Freesia in nearly every 
gardening periodical, which I have read with interest, as I think many 
fail to grow this beautiful, sweet scanted plant to anything like per¬ 
fection. Yet the culture is simple ; at leas*”, I have always found it so, 
and always been able to flower them well. I think where fragrant 
flowers are required for the house decoration, either in a cut state or in 
pots, the Freesias should be one of the first to be had for autumn and 
winter work, as they stand being placed in the rooms very well, which 
proves fatal to so many other plants. I generally pot the bulbs in 
August, placing eight in a 5-inch pot, in a compost of two parts loam 
and one of leaf soil, with a liberal quantity of sand. They are then 
placed in a cold frame and lightly covered to a depth of 2 inches with 
cocoa-nut fibre, in which position they remain until their growth is seen. 
I then remove the fibre from the top of the pots, but for a few days I 
cover the frame with a mat, so as to gradually accustom them to the 
light. When the pots are well filled with roots they are brought into 
the intermediate house and placed on a shelf near the glass, where they 
remain until the plants fl^'wer. If a few are required for any special 
purpose they are placed in heat, always being careful to bring them 
back again into a cooler house to open their flowers, as, like all other 
flowers, they last much longer when treated in the way mentioned. 
When the flowers are visible the plants are supplied with weak liquid 
cow manure at every alternate watering. After they have flowered they 
are replaced on the shelf in the full sun, and liberally supplied with 
liquid manure, so as to plump the bulbs for another season. I think the 
reason why many fail to flower bulbs of any description after the fruit 
year is, they forget that they require “feeding” after flowering, to 
replace the nourishment which has been drawn from the bulbs. I have 
had equally as good flowers of Freesias the third year as I did the first 
from bulbs treated in the way mentioned.—0, W. Guy. 
A JOURNEY TO BURMA. 
[A pap.'r by ilr. A. WIKKLEK WILLS, raad at a meeting of tbe Birmingham Gardeners’ 
Association.] 
(^Continued from l^age 90.) 
We drove to our daughter’s bungalow, and were at once in¬ 
stalled in luxurious quarters. Like most Burmese houses it has all 
its rooms on one fl )or, which is approached by a double flight of 
stairs, and supported on massive teak posts. The space underneath 
serves as coachhouse and conservatory too, for here we have fifty 
sorts of Crotons in richest foliage. Eucharis amazonica, Alla- 
mandas, Orchids, &c. Here Vanda cserulea is in glorious bloom in 
the open air, and so is V. teres. Dendrobiums of many species are 
flourishing, though not in flower, such as D. Dalhousieanum, 
D. Parishi, D. fimbriatum, D. primulinum, and many others. 
Oiitorii Ternatea and the vivid scarlet Tpomaea Quxmoclit climb to 
the roofs of the houses, mingled with a much-prized English 
Honeysuckle. It may interest you to know how one’s day is 
spent in the far east. You rise with the sun about 6 a m. He has no 
fog or smoke to dissipate, and strikes hard with his burning rays, as 
he mounts above the long range of mountains 5000 feet high, which 
bound the horizon to the east some fifteen miles away, so that by 
7 30 a m. the thermometer in winter stands at 80' to 82°, in summer 
at 100° to 110°. At 6 30 you have chota hajiri (little breakfast) 
consisting of coffee, toast and butter, and plenty of fruit, Custard 
Apples, Papaws from the gardens. Oranges, such as we never tasted 
elsewhere, from the hills, and in the sum’ner Mangos, Mangosteens, 
and Pines. 
From 7 to 9.30 we always drove among the lovely roads in 
and about Toungoo, and I photographed tropical vegetation and 
scenes of Burmese life, pagodas and monasteries. The 20,000 
inhabitants cover a large space, probably some two miles square ; 
the houses are scattered here and there among Bananas, Cocoa and 
Palmyra Palms and tropical trees by the sides of broad and well 
kept roads, and from early morn to dewy eve these roads are 
full of happy people moving to and fro, chatting and laughing, for 
laughter is as common among these children of the sunny east as 
long and anxious faces are in our streets. Everyone is well off, 
for everyone has enough, and the desire to hoard is both forbidden 
by the Buddhist religion and almost unknown among the people. 
Everyone is decently dressed, and the squalor, rags and filth of 
our poorest classes have no counterpart in this happy land. I have 
seen crowds assembled at festivals and holiday times, and the 
mingling shades of amber, pale red, blue and every imaginable soft 
and delicate colour are only to be compared to a living parterre of 
daintily tinted fl iwers. The greatest reproach which can be levelle 1 
at a Burman is that he has sunk so low that he cannot don a silken 
pissoo or skirt at such times. The good humour and kindness of 
these people is unlimited, and they strike one as being at all times 
Nature’s perfect gentlefolk. We had unusual opportunities of 
judging of these qualities, for my son-in-law, Mr. Sage, has lived 
long among them, and speaks their language perfectly, so that we 
were always able to communicate with them through his mediation. 
On our return from our drive, when the heat of the sun had 
become oppressive, we settled down to our various occupations— 
Mr. Sage to his official duties, my daughter and wife to their reading, 
and T to developing my photographs. At eleven everyone takes a 
hot bath, and at twelve comes tiffen, a substantial meal of meat 
and abundant vegetables, for from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. the gardeners 
are incessantly carrying water from the river Sittang close by to 
the garden, and thus Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Spinach, and Carrots 
are grown with much success ; Potatoes are imported. After tiffen 
all resume their several occupations, and at 5 p m. we always drove 
out again, generally round the lakes, which are the favourite and 
most beautiful retreat in the cool of the evening, when the ther¬ 
mometer has gone down to 75°. 
Then as we returned it was delightful to see the streets crowded 
by happy people. At one corner, the junction of four broad roads, 
there was generally a little crowd of youths, stripped save for 
their waistcloths, enjoying the national game of ball-play ; and as 
darkness came on—^and it comes on swiftly after sundown in these 
latitudes—stalls were brought out and set up in ihe roadsides, at 
which were exposed for sale pieces of Sugar Cane, native cigars, 
sweetmeats, and the like, and little fires appeared here and there, 
at which thin mealcakes, like gigantic pancakes, were cooked for 
sale to the passers-by. All was life and happiness, and Cocoa 
Palms and Bananas formed ever 5 ’where a charming background 
to the scene, while now and again the marvellous odour of the male 
bloom of the Sathapoo, Screw Pine, or Pandanus filled the air with 
its penetrating lichness, so that we never returned to our home 
without regret and reluctance. 
At 8 P.M. came dinner, a good square British meal, and after 
that music, a game of cards, chat, and so forth. At eleven we went 
to bed under the necessary mosquito curtains, with windows wide 
