1885 .] 
the AMERICAN GARDEN. 
11 
OBOHIDS IN PABA. 
(OoniinnctI jYom oiir lust number.) 
Leaving the house, we found tho Ovuugo- 
trees along the path hung with Orchids, all 
growing on blocks and long bars oxteiiding 
from tree to tree, hung thick with vigorous 
plants. There seemed to bo no attempt 
at class!lication by. position; Cattleyas, 
Stanhopeas, Laolias, Brassias, Oncidiums, 
and other Orchids of the Western lloini- 
sphoro mingled promiscuously with Vandas 
and Dendrobinras from the Eastern. But 
each plant, except those which wore in largo 
numbers and easily distinguished, such as 
Cattleyas El Dorado and superba, OuckUum 
lanccaniim, Scliomburgkia undidata, and 
others, has a numbered leaden label at¬ 
tached. The numbers refer to a book in 
which is written the whole history of each 
plant. The numbers of the species already 
reach nearly four hundred and fifty, and con¬ 
stant additions are being made. 
A mass of about forty plants of Jliltonias 
spectabilis, Candida, cuncata, and Clowcsii, 
mostly showing bloom, attracted our atten¬ 
tion by their vigorous growth and health)' 
green foliage, diet a plant showed the yellow 
shade of leaf which is so general in Millonias. 
The fence on oiu- right was hidden by masses 
of Cattleya El Dorado, and wo noticed many 
good plants of Laelia Perriiiii, while the 
Orange-trees near the wficket-gate were 
draped wfith the pendulous stems of Deiidro- 
hium superbum and Pierardii. 
Close to the gate were two large tubs of a 
very stately Orchid, Epidendrum panicula- 
tum, the stems five feet tall, and just show¬ 
ing bud. Entering the wfieket, wo found the 
fence on both sides, to the end of the orchard, 
a mass of Orchids, and on poles reaching 
from tree to tree were baskets containing the 
rarer species, among which wo noticed in 
fine growth. Cattleyas )narginata, pumila and 
JSkinneri, Laelia Dayana, Leptoles bicolor and 
Dendrobiums chrysanthum, Wardianum, mao- 
rophyllum giganteum, crepidalum and pul- 
cliellum, but only chrysanthum was in bloom. 
Some lai'ge tubs contained plants of Crytopo- 
diumpunctatum &ud.Andersoni, and thei’o was 
a specimen Galeandra Devoniana, which to 
see was worth our walk. The stems were as 
thick as one’s thumb, six feet high, and bent 
with the weight of great panicles of bloom ; 
we counted twenty-five on a single stem, 
each fiower two inches in diameter by actual 
measurement. . 
A large Abio tree was hung with Seuticaria 
Steelii and various rush-leaved Jirasavolas, 
and all the posts which support the covered 
tables of, foliage plants were likewise hung 
with Orchids. One of the loveliest of Orchids, 
ef which we saw fine plants, is lonopsis pani 
eulata, which spreads a rosy cloud of blossom, 
the panicle of flowers often larger than the 
whole plant. Away from the shelter of t e 
trees were some tables of Orchids in p^Si 
among which were fine specimens of 
^leyas lobata, Dotmana, Leopoldi, Mena 
^^lor, Idbiata intermedia, some good an 
das, JErides and SaccolaViums, and very vig 
erous Calanthes and Phajus. 
On some of the trees were large masses 
Cametridium oehroleuoum, a very P’^® 
Mlnte-llowercd, fragrant Orchid, and of Rod. 
^ duerna secumU,. Hardly distinguishable from' 
ho latter in foliage were (ino phints of 
EurUy Ionia J)-agrans, tlm best of the family, 
which were just showingbloom. Some large 
plants of Dciidrobium Dalboiwianum, seen by 
their strong growtli and signs of former 
howor to have taken mildly to the climate, 
and a long lino of Vandas and fiaccolabiiims 
111 baskets were throwing out roots into the 
air ill every direction. 
Tho colloction is very weak in Cypripedia, 
of which wo only saw C. longifolium, Roezli, 
and Rpiccriamim, tho latter a now ariival. 
Of Chysis, Stanhopeas, and Coclogynes there 
were plenty ; but Angraocuins, Odontoglos- 
sums, and Masdovallias were almost wholly 
wanting, tho two latter because tho eliinato 
is too hot for them. For the same reason 
Senhor Olindahas lost all his Catllcya citri- 
nn, Laelia majalis, and Lyciustc Slinncrii, and 
for some inexplicable reason Dciidrobium, 
nobile, and Callleya Mossiac, of which there 
are many plants, do not thrive. 
Tho Ph.alaenopses, though few in species 
and number, were in wonderful health. Tho 
best was P.ScltiUoriana, the foliage as large as 
one’s hand, very richly marked, and carrying 
a spike of bloom four foot long. Of clioico 
little plants there were many, such as Pro- 
menmas, four species of Sophronitis, Onci- 
diiim articulatum, and Liminghci dasytylo 
and iiiiijlorum, Loptotes, Paphineas, and 
Aganisia. 
Zygopetalums were represented by ros- 
tralum and maxillare in many varieties, and 
by the larger growing Mackayi, and there 
were a host of Epidendrums, chiefly valu¬ 
able for tho profusion and fragrance of 
flower rather than for color. 
Time fails us to give a description of all 
that we saw ; in so large a collection some¬ 
thing new is developing every day, and thus 
tho attractions are ever new. 
As to tho care required we may say, as 
when describing the foliage plants, it is re¬ 
duced to a minimum. For nine months in 
the year no watering is necessary, and a good 
syringing in tho morning suffices to keep the 
plants in good health the other three. The 
"great care is the potting, basketing, or block¬ 
ing of the plants; when they are once hung 
up the kindly climate does tho rest. Of 
•course, there tire annoyances; slugs and 
grasshoppers sometimes do mischief. Wo 
saw a long stalk of Demfrobium from which 
every bud had been stripped the previous 
night, and Senhor Olinda was lamenting a 
choice plant of Neottia orchioides, which 
a gi'asshopper had eaten completely off. 
But tho annoyances are small, compared 
with the pleasure, and we are fully convinced 
that Para offers every attraction to the 
amateur in Orchids. 
Paba, Brazil. 
B. S. Band. 
A WONDEBFTJL ISLAND. 
NEVEE the sight of a plowed field hoe 
the sound of a beook. 
JkTtow o< . Tt... IMW "«• 
known in Nassau, says a correspondent of 
tho A'l y. Times. No grain is raised there; 
there is no field big enough to make it worth 
while for one tiring, and where the land has 
boon cleared and broken and made produc¬ 
tive it is too rich in its capacity to raise more 
valuable things. There is very little grass. 
Hero and there are little patches of it, but 
almost always where it has been sown and 
carefully cultivated. All the flour used has 
to bo imported. As most of the horses come 
from America, so their hay and feed is taken 
from here, too, except such gi-een stuff as 
they pick up incidentally. Our modem farm 
machines being unnecessary tliere, are un¬ 
known and unheard of. 
There are no rivers, and in traveling over 
almost all parts of the island of New Provi¬ 
dence I do not remember to have seen oven 
tho smallest brooklet. But it is anything 
but barren, anything but desolate. Take a 
field there that is nothing but a solid mass 
of coral rock and limestone, and, if let alcno 
for a year or two, it becomes so coveie.l 
■\rith all sorts of vegetation that no'man 
could tell whether the bottom of it was sand, 
or clay, or rock, or what. If land is net 
carefully cultivated ail the time, it soon dis¬ 
appears beneath the growth of trees r.nd 
bushes. A barren rock in less than two 
years becomes a flower garden, if let alone. 
It is a common saying that the land has to 
be tilled with a pickaxe, and trees and vege¬ 
tables set out with crowbars. There is good 
clay soil on some parts cf tho island. Some 
of tho Pine-apple’ fields ■were of I'ieh red clay, 
sti’ong enough to raise gi-ain or anything 
planted in them. But they were exceptions. 
Only here and there this red clay is found, 
and all the rest is rock. 
THE GAEDEN OF EDEN. 
“Gran-Edan,—an inclosed garden, from the 
Greek ‘ gan,’ to protect or defend, and ‘ oden' 
or eden, pleasure or delight,—or Paradise, 
is,” says Loudon, “supposed by some to have 
been situated in Persia; by others Ai-menia; 
and by others Chaldea, on the north of the 
Persian Gulf, near the present Bassorah, tho 
Euphrates dividing there into fom- streams, 
in the manner mentioned in holy writ. Buck¬ 
ingham tells us that tho people of Damascus 
believe implicitly that the site of Paradiso 
was at El Mezey, near that city, now a favor¬ 
ite place of recreation of tho Turks. The 
waters of the Tego and Barrady, which 
supply numerous fountains of Damascus, 
divide there into four streams, and these 
they suppose to bo tho four rivers of Moses. 
Tho inhabitants of Ceylon say that Para- 
dise was placed in their country; mud, ac¬ 
cording to the Eev. Dr. Buchanan, they still 
point out Adam’s bridge and Abel’s tomb. 
Sfr Alexander Johnston informs us that they 
also point out, as the tree which bore tho for¬ 
bidden fruit, the Diri Sadner, or Tabema:- 
montana altentifolia of botanists. For con¬ 
firmation of this tradition, they refer to tho 
beauty of tho fruit and the fine scent of 
the flowers, both of which are most tempt¬ 
ing. Tho shape of the fruit gives the idea 
of a piece haring been bitten off; and the 
inhabitants say that it was excellent before 
Eve ate of it, though it is now poisonous. 
Many other fanciful oinnions have been 
given respecting the site of Paradise, and a 
Svvedish professor in the seventeenth cent¬ 
ury wrote a book to prove it was in Sweden. 
