26 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 8, 1900. 
Bambusa Metake is well represented, and Spiraea 
Douglasii thrives to perfection. A Beech tree is 
pointed out on the island, from which at breast high 
a never failing spring of cooling water may be seen. 
On examination, however, we found that a natural 
hollow in the trunk contained the water, which was 
conducted thither during rainy weather by the 
curiously fluted stem of the Beech. The ample 
foliage above prevents undue evaporation, while the 
excessive rain on the island contributes to the never 
failing supply of water. 
The numerous walks around the island are well 
laid out, and every advantage taken of the lovely 
views afforded by the hills and dales on the sur¬ 
rounding shores of the lake. Many wild flowers are 
to be found along the shore and all over the island, 
but the rabbit, from which the name of Coney was 
no doubt derived, is quite extinct, his attention to the 
trees and shrubs being rather too pressing. An inter¬ 
esting experiment in stocking the island with a cross 
between the golden and common pheasant will, we 
hope, be amply rewarded by success, for the cross is 
an excellent one. 
To what an immense size the Oak grew in Ireland 
centuries ago may be gathered from an inspection of 
a boat that was recently unearthed by the shore of 
the Lough nearest Coney Island, and which had been 
hewn from one solid block of Oak. 
Judging from the present dimensions the tree must 
have been fully 20 feet in girth, but in all probability 
much larger, and with very little taper for 20 ft. in 
length. Oars of Oak were also found, all the timber 
being black as jet, and extremely hard where not 
subjected to the action of the air. Alongside were 
discovered five other smaller boats, each about 6 ft. 
long, and hewn from a single log of Oak. About 
thirty stones, each as big as a man's fist, were found 
in a pile towards one end of the larger boat. 
Some antiquarians consider this rude boat a 
remnant of the Danes, but in my opinion it is of 
much earlier date. — A. D. Webster. 
NOTES FROM SOUTH AFRICA. 
From the classic slopes of Norwood to the base of 
Table Mountain is rather a pleasant journey in fine 
weather; and thanks to Donald Currie & Co.'s mag¬ 
nificent mail steamers, it is now a comparatively short 
one, a matter of seventeen days transferring us from 
the capital of the British Empire to that of her (at 
present) most-talked-of colony. As numerous friends 
are eager to hear some news regarding our favourite 
profession in the Sunny South, I thought (instead of 
writing to each individually) a few notes in The 
Gardening World might prove of interest to other 
readers also. 
This one of course must be purely preliminary, 
snapshots, or first glances, as it were, of floral Cape 
Town : but if the editor can spare me the space, I 
will endeavour, as my time permits, to send a few 
more notes in detail of places of interest I may have 
the good fortune to visit, or other things that would 
be likely to prove of interest. 
Of course gardening here is very different to what 
it is at home, and to me at first sight it seemed in¬ 
tensely disappointing, a bad beginning surely, though 
this by no means always, makes a bad ending, 
especially in S. Africa. There is a certain newness, a 
roughness, if I may say so without disrespect, that 
to anyone used to the smoothly cut lawns, hard 
rolled walks, neat edges, and general finished appear¬ 
ance that characterise British gardens, takes the eye 
some little time to get familiar with. 
Still the eye, like all other organs in the animal 
and vegetable kingdoms, is (luckily for us) capable 
of changing to suit new environments, and so it 
proved here. 
A silver lining was soon found to the somewhat 
dull cloud of first impressions, in the form of hosts of 
old friends in changed circumstances; of course we 
greeted them as old friends, amongst the first being 
two fine plants, 10 to 12 feet high and proportionally 
wide, of Metrosideros (Callistimon) speciosns, with 
hosts of its curious red bottle bushes. A little further 
on was a perfect mass of a double Poinsettia 
(Euphorbia) pulcherrima, its flaming scarlet bracts 
rivetting the attention at a great distance and forming 
on closer inspection a pretty picture indeed, as flowers 
are not very plentiful here just now, this being about 
mid-winter (23rd July), though to untravelled Brit¬ 
ishers it hardly appears so. The glass on several 
days lately registered over 70 degrees in the shade. 
Still we expected changes, and here is surely one, a 
raised mound round a wood and surmounted by a 
row of a large green Agave, with hosts of what appear 
to be seedlings growing among them, a perfect 
barrier without doubt. A few have the flower spikes 
remaining, 15 or 16 feet high, though the flowers 
have gone. 
Palms also forma conspicuous feature everywhere, 
and nearly all are bearing fruit; while Conifer* 
seem to do remarkably well, though our colonial 
friends appear to have a preference for flowering 
trees and shrubs. Still there are some fine specimen 
Conifers. Here at Mount Nelson we have several 
magnificent trees of Araucaria excelsa, I should say 
70 ft. or 80 ft. high, with the lower branches sweep¬ 
ing the ground, the trunk at 5 ft. from the ground 
measuring a little over 10 ft. in circumference. 
Oaks are also planted very extensively, Govern¬ 
ment Avenue being formed of these, and though they 
are all leafless just now, it must be a fine sight in 
summer, and well deserves its place as one of the 
principal sights of Cape Town. It runs from 
Adderley Street, an even incline for over a mile, 
right to the Mount Nelson Hotel, on the right being 
the South African Library and Reading Room, the 
Cape Municipal Gardens (of which more anon), and 
the South African Museum ; while on the left we 
have Parliament Buildings and Government House, 
a rockwork in the gardens at the latter place being 
surmounted at present by an irregular row of Aloe 
virens covered with its beautiful racemes of red 
flowers, and forming a nice combination with some 
large plants of the always curious Cacti Order. 
In the same garden Alternanthera makes a very 
effective edging to most of the walks. 
There are many other plants here also worthy of 
note. These are only a few that took my eye as I 
passed up the avenue. We will leave the others for 
closer inspection on a more favoured occasion. 
As I am perhaps already overstepping the space at 
my disposal, it may be best to leave you there, 
though I might go on writing indefinitely. I have 
only mentioned a few that took my eye. and I 
happened to be familiar with ; while many others I 
purposely omitted as it is not their flowering season. 
Fruit is mostly at the pruning season, and will 
have to await visits to the country. I have tried 
the flavour of Monstera deliciosa not many hundred 
yards from here, however. So you see, if we have 
not the polished finish, we have plenty of raw 
material with a climate that appears perfectly 
suitable to a large percentage of our temperate 
plants as well as a goodly proportion of the gems of 
the tropics. This gives us a wide field to work iD, a 
field in which Nature, though lavish with her 
favours, is also lavish with her frowns. 
But of course our profession being— 
" The Art that mends Nature,” 
we hope to accept the favours and protect them 
from the frowns so that one day the beauty and 
order that characterise English gardens to-day may 
be united in perfect harmony with the more 
luxuriant growth and more extensive variety of 
South African vegetation.— James Good. 
SEASONABLE HINTS. 
Roman Hyacinths.— Now that Roman Hyacinths 
have arrived in such numbers, thousands of these 
bulbs will be potted or boxed before the month is 
spent. There are one or two points of importance 
in their treatment, that are not always so attentively 
heeded as is desirable. They should not be allowed 
to lie about in warm sheds, nor to be exposed for 
any length of time to light and air, which soon dries 
them. The earliest batch for flowering at the New 
Year will now be potted ; later successive batches 
should be kept packed in fibre, sand, or moss, until 
they are to be potted. Roman Hyacinths may be 
grown in all sorts of conveniences—flats, pots, pans, 
and little ornaments large enough to hold a few 
bulbs and some soil. Afford good drainage and pot 
them in a moderately rich fibrous compost. Place 
the receptacles, whatever they are, in a cold frame 
and cover them over to the depth of 3 in. or 4 in. 
with sifted coal ashes. If the soil in which they are 
potted is damp to start with, growth should start by 
the end of the month, or early in October, whence 
they may be brought into the greenhouse and 
forwarded at a later date to a house with a tempera¬ 
ture of 6o° to 65°. Keep them in a light position. 
Paper-white Narcissus should be treated in all 
respects similarly. They do best when grown in 
6-in. or 7-in. pots. 
Liliums.— Bermuda Lilies for next Easter flower¬ 
ing should be secured any time from now. Many 
growers pot them straight away, and if they do not 
want to start them at once they stow the pots 
beneath a bench where no drip will harm them, and 
there they remain safe and sound till they are 
wanted. 
If they are cot to be potted stow them away in 
dry sand in boxes, and place in a cool shed. These 
Liliums take a long time to perfect their flowers 
from the time they start, so that growers must use 
judgment. 
Freesias for Christmas should at once be potted. 
—H. 
A VISIT TO SWANLEY. 
The floricultural visitor to Messrs. Cannell & Sons' 
nursery at Swanley may go there at almost any 
season of the year, in the assurance that he will see 
something to satisfy his fancy. At the present 
season of the year he will find Cannas,lovely Gloxinias 
now just passing out of bloom, single and double 
tuberous Begonias, Zonal Pelargoniums, and 
Fuchsias. These are all specially represented, 
though they by no means embrace the tenth part of 
the subjects cultivated under glass. The Gloxinias, 
as is stated, are now pretty well run to seed. 
Begonias are also past their best, and the doubles are 
being allowed to run themselves “ out,” so that 
pollen for cross-fertilising purposes maybe obtained. 
The CanDas are coming strongly into flower, and to 
most people the never ending wonder is, how such 
massive plants and such magnificent spikes can be 
produced from 5-in. pots ? Certainly Messrs. 
Cannell's Cannas deserve attention. Then of course 
the Fuchsias are splendid, and are at their best at 
this time. In a few long span-roofed houses the 
famous Swanley Pelargoniums are blooming, and 
these will continue onwards through the autumn and 
winter, and will accompany the Cannas to some of 
the later metropolitan shows. It will be sufficient 
for all, and more useful too, if only the best varieties 
of the " Zonals,” Cannas, &c., are here described. 
Zonal Pelargoniums. 
Everyone is agreed that our conservatories, at least 
in many gardens, would furnish anything but a 
pretty show were they without the utilitarian and 
handsome " Geraniums,” commonly so-called. 
Though it is many times reiterated ; it may again be 
said that " Geraniums” proper are hardy herbaceous 
border plants differing very much in the character 
of foliage and habit from all the sections of Pelar¬ 
gonium, which includes the bedding, the scented, the 
zonal, the Ivy-leaved, the show and fancy species 
and varieties. 
Pelargoniums are so tractile and simple of manage¬ 
ment, that people with limited experience can culti¬ 
vate specimen plants with success. They do not 
call for any elaborate structures, nor for a compli¬ 
cated or high-class heating system to supply a 
physical defection of our climate ; and it is for these 
reasons and the merits of the plants themselves that 
they are so numerously grown. What we want in 
the first place is good culture, and secondly, a 
selection of the most up-to-date, improved varieties. 
Try only a few to begin with and it is more than 
likely that their superiority will be the means of 
leading to higher ideals. The interest falls dead 
flat when one always sticks to the same old run 
There is, for instance, Raspail Improved. The 
old Raspail is a splendid sort for cutting, for it 
possesses long stalks and the trusses of scarlet 
flowers are large; and yet in Raspail Improved 
they are larger and more freely produced still. The 
latter resulted as a sport from the parent Raspail, 
Jean Rameau, a mottled purple variety, having a 
white ground and faintly margined with purple, is 
very distinct. Aime Henriot is remarkable for its 
distinct and peculiar shade of colour, which may be 
described as peach-pink of a lively shade ; the trusses 
are large and each of the individual blooms are of 
exceedingly fine form. Another worthy double 
variety which was exhibited frequently at the 
autumn shows last year by the Messrs. Cannell, is 
H. M. Stanley, a name easy to remember. The 
flower is deep pink, and as the plant has a finely 
branching habit, and bears a profusion of large 
trussed blooms, the variety may be regarded as an 
acquisition. 
Pink as a colour meets with general appreciation, 
