12 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 7, 1905. 
plants from various otlier localities and transferring them to 
this wild garden. That, of course, means that he is naturalis¬ 
ing them if they do not already grow there. It will he in¬ 
teresting to learn in after years how many wild plants it is 
possible to maintain on a common to which the public have 
access. Our old colleague is no doubt sanguine, but he must 
have more control over the fate and welfare of his wild plants 
than*any of the London County Council's, if he is to succeed 
in maintaining any considerable number of such favourites. 
We have no doubt that various county councils are themselves 
responsible for the destruction of large numbers of wild plants 
owing to their propensity for improvements by levelling the 
ground and importing fresh soil which is highly detrimental 
to the wildings, and causes them to disappear wholesale. 
Another interesting experiment to be tried is the planting 
of fruit trees in the streets as well as herbaceous plants. The 
youths of the Garden City will have to be properly educated 
if they are to keep at a respectable distance from these, fruit 
trees; nevertheless, we shall be delighted to learn of the re¬ 
sults even of this experiment after a few years. 
Mr. D. MacGregor, who left Ivew about twelve months ago 
for Shanghai, writes about some of his experiences since 
taking the parks and open spaces of that place in hand. He 
seems to have been adding to the Chinese vocabulary, since a 
new park which was being laid out last April was named the 
Hong-Ivew Park. The climate is evidently a warm temperate 
one, judging from the trees which thrive there, some of which 
are well known here in the open, while a few others are less 
known in the open but more extensively grown under glass. 
What will be interesting to gardeners is what he says con¬ 
cerning the Peach orchards and other home fruits grown out 
in China, The Peaches he describes as acid or insipid, while 
the Strawberries introduced from England are also insipid. 
We believe that is frequently the case when fruits are intro¬ 
duced to British colonies from the mother country. The fruits 
are practically worthless, even if the trees succeed. The out¬ 
come of this is that gardeners and others commence raising- 
new varieties which prove much more amenable to the soil 
and climate than their parents. It lias been known to us that 
Strawberries raised in Scotland are of little practical value in 
England, and vice versa. The gardeners at Shanghai will have 
to exert themselves in the raising of new varieties which will 
prove better adapted to their new home in the Far East. 
The Chinese gardener is somewhat slow and antiquated, but 
not to be despised according to Mr. MacGregor. He can grow 
good plants and vegetables, but his ideas and tastes are some¬ 
what different from those in the old country. Another point 
is that he never keeps the glasshouses too close if ventilation 
can be given. Mr. MacGregor also visited the Mandarin’s 
Rockery, which enjoys great reputation amongst the natives, 
but this is described as a stupendous rock-work and not a rock- 
garden, as it consists chiefly of huge boulders cemented 
together so as to form caves with a summer-house on the top. 
Mr. C. E. F. Allen gives an interesting account of the Vic¬ 
toria Falls, Rhodesia, which he says are as wide a.s the Niagara 
Falls, and twice as high. He went through the “ rain forest ” 
where the trees are constantly dripping with wet. The forest 
is situated opposite the Victoria Falls at a height of 400 ft. 
to 500 ft,, and the everlasting rain is caused by the mist or 
spray ascending from the Falls. He found it impossible to 
keep himself diy although wearing oilskins. The flora in this 
dripping forest is different from that of the surrounding 
country, and, as might be expected. Ferns grow luxuriantly. 
From the Palace Gardens, Khartoum, Mr. F. S. Sillitoe 
writes concerning the “ sudd " on the White Nile. This is 
practically an extensive swamp following the course of the 
river on either side and for a distance of 300 miles. The 
luxuriance cf the vegetation, which, needless to say, is aquatic, 
is the feature of this drowned region. We have recently heard 
a good deal about the advantages of the cutting cf this “ sudd ” 
in order to increase the volume of water in the Nile when it 
reaches Lower Egypt, So uniform is the vegetation in this 
region that Mr. Sillitoe describes it as monotonous. Hippo¬ 
potami must be plentiful, seeing that herds of twenty-five to 
thirty are frequent. While nearing home lie describes how lie 
got caught in a terrific thunderstorm and nearly wrecked. 
One barge was struck by lightning and the other had its iron 
roof blown away, while it was driven aground in the mud. 
Khartoum, he thinks, will be a fine town in a few years. 
From St. Louis we have a story of quite another kind and 
nearer the haunts of civilisation. Mr. T. W. Brown speaks 
of the delight he had in watching the Exhibition grounds 
being converted from a vast clay field into a city of palaces and 
gardens during one winter and spring. The best of them he 
considers included Cascade Gardens, the Sunken Gardens, the 
Japanese and French Gardens. The exhibit of photographs 
from the Royal Gardens, Kew, was awarded the Grand Prize. 
Mr. M. T. Dawe, Curator of the Botanic Station, Uganda, 
gives some of his experiences while botanising, which closely 
recall those of Mr. Sillitoe while travelling on the Nile. Mr. 
Dawe wished to explore Sesse Island, on Lake Victoria Nyanza. 
This he did in canoes, which were small and unseaworthy, hut 
he resolved to accomplish the journey with the transport avail¬ 
able. After two hours’ paddling he and his company had to 
beach their frail craft on an island and repair it. Soon after 
resuming their journey a storm came on which they weathered 
for three hours, expecting every moment to be swamped, when 
the snort of a hippopotamus proved a welcome sound, not that 
it was bringing assistance, but it was an indication of land not 
far off. 
After reaching Sesse Island he landed to find all the in¬ 
habitants of a native village suffering from sleeping sickness. 
While exploring a part of the island he found splendid Plan¬ 
tain gardens liable to be raided by hippopotami, for which the 
natives had set traps. He, himself, nearly got caught in one 
of these traps. Front Diji he proposed walking through the 
centre of the island so as to reach the starting point they had 
left some time previously. While exploring the forest he was 
greatly interested in tree Ferns, Epiphytal Begonias, with 
acicular fruits, also rubber-yielding plants and many kinds of 
Ferns which made a certain dell quite a paradise for the Fem 
hunter. Altogether this journey occupied eighteen days. 
From a fresh account here again to hand, it is evident that 
Mr. E. H. Wilson is still in luck in Western China. As our 
readers may remember, lie is collecting new plants for Messrs. 
Veitch, of Chelsea, and he here describes his journeys and 
some of his successes, while the more important particulars he 
evidently keeps up his sleeve. Being in a mountainous 
country he still continues to find interesting species of Me- 
conopsis, which are essentially mountain Poppyworts as repre¬ 
sented by our own Welsh Poppy (M. cambrica). He discusses 
the vegetation he comes across, but particularly those things 
with which we have been more or less made acquainted in 
recent years. Like all other travellers, he has given himself 
to a study of places and things in the land where he sojourns 
and uses them in the description of the people and country 
where he is now sojourning. 
Mr. D. Tannock, who went out to the West Indies a few 
years ago, gives an account of his journey from thence 
through Canada on his way to New Zealand to take up a 
fresh post there. Near Vancouver, in British Columbia, he 
passed through a forest of big trees, and tells us how the 
people there have reserved about 10,000 acres of these big 
trees as a park, in which they have made drives, walks, and 
cycle tracks. Like our cousins in the United States, the 
Canadians seem to do things on a big scale. On reaching 
Wellington, the capital, he found several of the old boys, and 
thought the Botanic Gardens there the most English gardens 
he had seen since leaving home. 
Mr. E. Brown writes from Uganda concerning the flora and 
fauna, but chiefly those that were troublesome and interesting 
rather than beneficial to him. Speaking about the Buganda 
native, he says that he gets three rupees monthly, and is cer¬ 
tainly not worth more. If such a man is threatened during 
the month that he will be fined for wrong-doing he forgets all 
about it, or, at least, disregards it next day, and at the end 
of the month has quite forgotten what he is being punished 
for. The chief food of the natives is Bananas, and if they have 
