510 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  14,  1000 
Tlie  Hoyal  I(orticfllturaI  Society. 
Scientific  Committee,  June  5th. 
Present  :  Dr.  M.  T.  Masters  (in  the  chair)  ;  Mr.  Veitch,  Eev. 
W.  Wilks,  and  Eev.  G.  Henslow,  Hon.  Sec. 
Tulipa  Gesneriana  diseased. — Some  roots  received  from  Mr.  Mann, 
Penhill  Close,  Cardiff,  were  forwarded  to  Dr.  Smith  for  examination 
and  report. 
Iris  with  diseased  roots. — Mr.  Wilks  brought  some  plants  showing 
premature  decay  in  the  foliage.  He  observed  that  he  had  received 
reports  from  all  parts  of  England  of  a  similar  condition  among  Irises  of 
all  sorts.  The  roots  appeared  to  rot  close  to  the  rhizome.  They  were 
also  sent  to  Dr.  Smith. 
Odontoglossum  synanthic. — A  flower  from  a  spray  on  a  plant  of 
O.  trinmphans  (P),  sent  by  Mr.  Pitt,  illustrated  the  twin  condition  of 
two  coherent  flowers  ;  the  columns,  however,  were  free  from  each  other 
above  the  combined  ovaries,  as  well  as  the  two  labellums. 
Fendlera  rupicola. — Mr.  Gumbleton  exhibited  a  flowering  branch  of 
this  unique  tree,  there  being  but  one  species  to  the  genus.  It  is  a 
native  of  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  and  a  near  ally  of  Philadelphus  or 
Syringa,  as  popularly  known ;  but  while  the  ovary  is  inferior  in  the 
latter  genus,  it  is  superior  in  Fendlera. 
- - - 
The  Climate  of  Joliannesburg. 
The  whole  of  the  Free  State,  and  the  southern  half  of  the 
Transvaal,  consist  of  wide,  treeless,  rolling  grass  plains.  Across 
them  ox-waggons  travel  like  ships  on  the  open  sea;  the  railway 
stretches  like  a  brown  thread  ;  and  even  an  army  in  close  forma¬ 
tion,  seen  from  a  kopje  at  the  distance  of  a  few  miles,  looks  little 
more  than  a  snake  winding  its  way  through  the  veld.  Bloem¬ 
fontein  and  Kimberley  stand  at  an  altitude  of  about  4000  feet  in 
the  midst  of  the  great  plateau.  North  of  these  towns  the  country 
almost  imperceptibly  rises  until  the  Witwatersrand  is  reached  To 
the  north  of  this  the  Crocodile  runs  swiftly  down  through  valleys 
rich  with  a  tropical  luxuriance  of  growth  and  deadly  in  the  summer 
months  with  malarial  fever.  Through  the  Witwatersrand  from  east 
to  west  for  twenty-five  miles  the  main  gold  reef  lies,  and  in  the 
centre  of  the  Rand  stands  Johannesburg,  at  an  altitude  of  5600  feet 
above  the  sea,  and  more  than  1000  feet  above  the  summit  of  Table 
Mountain.  The  climate  which  this  position  gives  is  ideal.  It  is  the 
hill  climate  of  the  tropics,  than  which  the  world  contains  nothing 
more  delightful.  The  buoyancy  of  a  mountain  atmosphere  with  but 
little  of  its  rigour  has  an  exhilarating  effect,  stimulating  alike  to 
health  and  eneigy,  which  no  other  part  of  South  Africa  enjoys  to 
the  same  extent.  The  languor  of  tne  coast  is  almost  unknown. 
The  atmosphere  is  as  transparent  as  the  ultimate  ether,  and  the 
brilliant  sunlight  of  the  day  is  only  rivalled  by  the  splendour  of  the 
night.  When  the  moon  is  up,  says  a  writer  in  the  “Saturday 
Review,”  no  other  light  is  required  and  the  Boer  with  his  waggon 
travels  more  by  night  than  by  day.  The  starlight  serves  when 
the  moon  fails. 
The  rainfall  is  abundant,  but  comes  down  for  the  most  part  in  heavy 
storms  in  the  summer.  It  is  usual  during  January  and  February, 
two  of  the  hottest  summer  months,  to  have  one  or  two  series  of  some 
three  days’  heavy  and  continuous  rain.  But  the  rain  once  down  the 
sun  again  reigns  supreme.  Preceding  the  thunder  storms  in  summer, 
and  sometimes  for  days  together  in  the  winter,  dust,  the  one  drawback 
to  perennial  magnificei.ee  of  climate,  becomes  a  trying  feature  in  the 
health  and  happiness  of  life.  Johannesburg  has  not  the  fog,  slushy 
snows,  and  eternal  rain  of  other  lands.  But  it  has  its  dust  storm. 
Sometimes  for  minutes  together  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  is 
blotted  from  sight  by  a  blinding  wall  of  moving  red  sand.  The 
unfortunate  wayfarer  with  difficulty  struggles  along — now  partially 
opening  one  eye,  and  now  the  other,  he  gropes  his  way ;  his  mouth, 
eyes,  ears,  hair,  clothes,  filled  with  grinding  particles  of  sand.  When 
he  gets  home  even  his  house  affords  but  a  partial  shelter — the  finer 
particles  of  a  South  Africa  dust  storm  drift  in  every  room  and  every 
cupboard.  Dust  is  swallowed  with  the  soup  at  dinner  ;  it  lies  on  the 
pillow  at  night;  in  the  morning  it  floats  a  thin  film  on  the  water  of 
the  bath.  But  this  is  an  occasional  not  a  constant  nuisance,  and  it 
is  largely  to  be  controlled  by  mending  the  roads.  In  fact  dust  is  only 
to  a  very  small  extent  to  be  regarded  as  a  climatic  defect.  The  winds, 
the  tormenting  half-gales  of  the  High  Veld,  which  are  so  common 
through  the  winter,  in  whatever  other  way  they  may  try  mankind 
only  produce  dust  in  any  great  quantity  where  roads  or  debris  heaps 
occur.  The  veld  itstlf,  although  only  loosely  knit  together  by  a 
tufted  vegetation  of  rank  grass  is  sufficiently  compact  to  resist 
almost  entirely  the  winds  that  sweep  it.  At  times  it  is  true  even 
the  veld  has  dust  storms — what  dry  country  has  not  in  the  presence 
of  a  gale  ? — but  they  are  trifling  compared  to  the  dust  storm  of 
Johannesburg. 
From  nature  then  man  has  little  to  complain  of.  The  climate  .. 
of  the  high  veld  in  the  Transvaal  on  which  Johannesburg  is  situated 
is  almost  perfect.  It  is  man  himself  that  is  vile.  Mortality 
in  Johannesburg  is  high  for  two  reasons.  The  one  is  abominable 
sanitation,  the  other  an  indifferent  water  supply.  Typhoid  is  the 
Nemesis  of  these  defects.  Both  are  capable  of  remedy.  Epidemics 
of  typhoid  occur  periodically  in  the  summer  and  autumn  in  Johannes¬ 
burg  and  along  the  mines.  These  are  preventable,  but  hitln^rto  the 
inhabitants  of  Johannesburg  have  been  denied  all  control  of  their  own 
municipal  affairs.  Rich  revenues  contributed  for  municipal  purposes 
by  the  Uitlanders  have  been  principally  used  in  other  directions,  and 
what  little  has  gone  to  the  town  has  been  administered  by  a  board, 
on  which  the  controlling  power  was  of  the  ignorant  Boer  order, 
assisted  by  incompetent  Boer  officials.  The  result  has  been  a  heavy 
annual  death  roll  from  preventable  disease,  in  numbers  almost  as 
great  as  those  produced  by  the  war.  Of  the  country  around  Johannes- 
.burg  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  it  enjoys  Johannesburg’s  advantages  of 
climate  without  its  disadvantages  of  sanitation.  The  land  is  in  many 
places  not  only  capable  of  cultivation,  but  fertile  and  productive. 
Trees  grow  readily,  and  many  plantations  have  sprung  up  both  in  the 
various  suburban  townships  and  in  the  surrounding  country.  To  the 
north  of  Johannesburg  the  land  falls  away  rapidly,  but  among’the 
slopes  and  valleys  of  this  district  there  are  many  fertile  spots  which 
would  well  repay  cultivation. 
Pretoria,  which  is  in  this  more  broken  country,  is  2000  feet  lower 
than  Johannesburg,  and  has  a  warmer  and  less  bracing  climate. 
North-west  of  the  Rand  is  the  quaint  little  town  of  Rustenburg. 
Here  an  almost  tropical  luxuriance  of  vegetation  is  found,  and 
Bananas  and  Orange  groves  line  the  streets.  The  climate  is  warm  r 
and  more  trrpical  in  character,  but  is  nevertheless  healthy.  Malaria, 
which  is  scarcely  known  at  Johannesburg,  begins  to  be  found  in  the 
low  country  north  of  Rustenburg  and  Pretoria,  and  in  the  valley  of 
the  Crocodile  occurs  at  time  severely.  Yet  in  the  winter  this  low 
district,  the  Bush  Veld  as  the  Boers  call  it,  forms  a  delightful  hunting 
ground.  There  the  Boer  with  his  waggon,  his  family,  and  his  herds, 
often  sojourns  through  the  winter  months,  moving  from  time  to  time 
to  find  fresh  pastures  for  his  herds  or  seek  fresh  game  for  his  rifle. 
There  is  one  feature  in  the  climate  comm  m  both  to  Low  Veld  and 
High  Veld  which  is  distinctive  and  unique,  unique  alike  in  its  grandeur 
of  effect  and  in  its  danger.  It  is  the  South  African  thunderstorm. 
This  is  perhaps  most  terrible  when  it  courses  along  the  summit  of  a 
range  of  hills  such  as  the  Witwatersrand.  During  such  a  storm  there 
are  moments  when  the  air  is  a  blaze  of  fire.  The  rain  falls  in  such  a 
deluge  that  the  surface  of  the  ground  is  like  a  lake.  Between  the 
flash  and  the  report  there  is  scarcely  an  interval,  and  the  peal  of  the 
thunder  is  almost  one  incessant  roar. 
- - - 
A  Text-Book  of  Botany.' 
In  issuing  this  work,  extending  to  sonae  600  pages,  Messrs. 
Macmillan  have  had  in  view  the  needs  of  the  advanced  student.  It 
cannot  in  any  respect  be  considered  as  an  elementary  treatise,  and  a 
man  must  have  made  himself  a  good  practical  field  botanist  during  the 
summer  months  in  order  to  appreciate  sitting  down  with  his  microscope 
for  the  other  half  of  the  year  to  a  careful  examination  of  specimens  under 
the  guidance  of  this  volume.  It  deals  with  questions  of  structural  aud 
physiological  botany  in  the  first  half,  and  does  this  in  so  thoroughly 
exhaustive  a  manner  as  to  lead  the  casual  reader  to  suspect  immediately 
that  so  much  of  solidity  can  alone  proceed  from  the  Teutonic  brain.  This 
is  correct,  since  no  less  than  four  professors  in  the  University  of  Bonn 
have  co-operated  in  its  production.  The  second  half  of  the  book 
deals  with  the  special  botany  of  the  Cryptogams  and  Phanerogams, 
and  here  again  we  find  mirch  more  concentrated  food  for  reflection 
admirably  illustrated  by  diagrams.  The  last  quarter  consisting  of  a 
descriptive  classification  of  the  monocotyledonous  and  dicotyledonous 
plants  is  a  resume  of  the  characteristics  of  all  the  leading  orders  as 
known  in  the  larger  works  of  Hooker  and  Liudley,  also  illustrated 
with  beautiful  diagrams,  many  of  them  in  colour.  As  a  handy  digest 
of  more  comprehensive  works  it  is  in  every  respect  to  be  recom'nended, 
and  seeing  that  of  its  600  pages  only  six  lack  an  illustration  of  some 
sort,  the  earnest  botanist  will  in  perusing  it  find  many  subjects  of 
pleasure  as  well  as  instruction. 
*  A  Text-Book  of  Botany  (Strasburger),  translated  from  the  German. 
Macmillan  &  Co.  ISs. 
