May t, 1903. 
drive on the native reserve side, but be- 
yond an edging of Echeveria secunda, very 
little could be grown. A few steps for- 
ward brings the visitor to the Cactus 
group, of which we give a picture. This 
group has been growing into an inextri- 
cable mass of wildness that: defies descrip- 
tion, as it does the gardener. 
were collected during Mr. Johnson’s tra- 
vels abroad, and put in there never to be 
disturbed. In this heterogeneous mix- 
ture we pick out Aloes, Crassulas, Cotyie- 
dons, Yuccas, Agaves, Opuntias, Rocheas, 
Echinocactus, Palms (Chamaerops excelsa, 
&c.), Stapelias, Cereus, and Pritchardia 
filamentosa. The two Opuntias, tower- 
ing up some fifteen feet in height, show 
that the somewhat hungry soil, with its 
limestone foundations and the heat, favor 
their growth. The specimen bearing the 
yellow flower we take to be Megacantha, 
from Mexico, and the fed bloomer, Glau- 
cophylla. The Aloe, with leaves in shape 
like a dinner knife, and commonly called 
the Knife Aloe, is Plicatilis. Belonging 
to the Liliacea order’ we note Haworthia, 
answering to the description of spiralis. 
- A-variety of Cereus claims attention by 
the sexagonally and deeply.-divided stem, 
the edge of each division carrying spines, 
which are only to be looked at, not 
touched. This answers to the name of 
Chalybaens, but might have another. The 
Opuntia cylindrica is a forbidding-looking 
specimen, with its scales like a snake, and 
the top of each column carrying three or 
four spines. Another variety, designated 
 Aristata, carries a crested top with round 
bracts, but the spines look vicious enough 
ty leave their fixture and run through the 
inquisitive searcher after novelties. There 
is a subtle fascination about a wild-looking 
Cactus bed such as this. Such a spot 
The plants 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
Ii 
will probably not be met with in any other 
garden,-and. the longer one lingers by it 
the keener grows the pictures of desert 
stactches and mountain wilds. If, per- 
chance, the visitor lingered thereabout till 
the pale light lost itself in a dismal tii- 
light, and his thoughts became depressed 
with the moaning of the pines, the 
imagination would easily figure in the 
group, sinewy serpents, creeping things, 
aud eerie sprites of questionable shape. 
Had the light been that of a dull even- 
ing as we turned away from the Cactus 
bed, and the eye caught a snakey-looking 
Cactus specimen twining around the trunk 
and limbs of a neighboring pine, there 
might have been some excuse for an im- 
promptu exclamation of a name appro- 
priately suitable to the plant. In broad 
daylight, however, the name was calmly 
enquired for, and the information gained 
St. Catherine’s.—Cactus Group, 
that it came from somewhere in. travels 
abroad. Touching upon this, by the way, 
we noticed lately that a, botanist, writing 
to one of the English gardening maga- 
zines, made a strong plea for a classification 
of Cactuses upon a systematic basis of 
nomenclature. We were not surprised 
at the plea, but another botanist, who had - 
apparently specialised upon the tribe, 
affected to be very much upset at the idea. 
The present arrangement of nomenclature 
-was as good as it could be, he argued. 
Behind the Cactus bed one sees Dory- 
anthes excelsa, the gigantic lily of Austra- 
lia, in-bud; it has only once flowered ini 
this State, and that was at St. Catherine’s 
about ten years ago. Also one sees the 
Custard Apple, and the Japanese Date 
Plum (Diospyros kaki) in full bearing; as 
well as a magnificent collection of Cannas. 
The southern bordering to the drive we 
see the gardener has been growing Annuals 
and Roses against long odds of heat and 
under drainage, the soil apparently having 
about as much consistency as a sieve for 
holding water. Over the bordering we 
perambulate through the native reserve. 
The Cocos plumosa, from Brazil, evidently 
did not appreciate its adopted home, and 
the Yucca aloefolia might have presented 
a less gaunt appearance with a little at- 
tention, but a Kaffir apple alongside had 
developed some very business-like spines, 
and the Mock Orange (Philadelphus 
coronaria) is also a very fair specimen. In 
front of the glass-house, which contains a 
number of  Aspleniums, Geraniums, 
Altenanthera, Gloxinias, Asparagus, and a 
few other things, we noted a good speci- 
men of Acacia soligna. Others coming 
under notice were Acacia Julibrissin, 
Acacia Ccuminata, Xanthorrhea quad- 
rangulata, Tamarisk, Myalls, and Hakea 
multileanata which goes under the name 
of Grammatophylla. This a native of 
Port Lincoln, and ‘its long,’showy, pinkish 
red blooms, borne in spike-like umbels, 
gives it rank as one of the finest natives of 
Australia. Two specimens of native — 
peaches are looking well, and bear good 
fruit. These make pretty trees when the 
bright red fruit is ripe. The Caffre bean 
(Schotia latifolia) also does well away from 
it3 Native habitat in South Africa. Round 
about the wicket gate shown in the pic-. 
ture we can see also Lagunaria, Pinus 
halepensis (Aleppo pine), P. canariensis, 
Dracaena drago (dragon’s blood), a Wes- 
tern Australian Eucalypt, Robina psuedo- 
avacia, Hakea eucalyptoides, bamboos, 
Carob bean (Ceratonia siliqua),. and 
two or three very fine Acacias. — 
A. specimen of  Farnesiana ~ from 
Central Australia is one of the 
with its long racemes of yellow flowers, 
best, — - Aa 
