216 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Tilia  microphylla  is  also  quite  as  much  cultivated  as  is  the 
common  Lime,  or  Linden  tree,  with  us.  Its  foliage  is  not  so 
bold  as  that  of  the  latter,  but  its  flowers  are  far  more  abun¬ 
dant,  open  earlier,  and  are  more  fragrant. 
Of  the  wild  flowers  I  can  say  but  little,  for  I  had  to  pass 
rapidlv  through  the  districts  where  the  Alpine  Flora  is 
richest.  Two  plants,  however,  must  attract  even  the  notice 
of  eyes  looking  from  the  windows  of  a  railway  carriage — the 
red-berried  Elder  (Sambucus  racemosa),  and  the  yellow  Fox¬ 
glove  (Digitalis  lutea).  Why  are  they  not  more  cultivated 
in  England  1  They  are  very  ornamental.  Then  the  Cam¬ 
panulas  are  strikingly  numerous.  There  are  thirteen  species 
in  the  vicinity  of  Lucerne,  ranging  from  the  C.  pusilla,  barely 
an  inch  high,  to  the  C.  pyramidalis,  -which  is  4ft.  All  I  saw 
impressed  me  with  the  opinion  that  they  were  deeper  in 
colour  and  larger  in  flower  than  the  same  species  which  I 
had  seen  in  other  European  countries. 
The  Alpine  Forget-me-not,  only  found  in  this  country 
on  the  summits  of  the  Breadalbane  mountains,  cheered  me 
with  its  bright  blue  eyes  everywhere  •  while  the  ‘  Alpine 
Lady’s  Mantle  ’  spread  its  grey  satiny  leaves,  along  with  the 
Arctic  Willow,  the  favourite  food  of  the  chamois,  over  the 
stony  knolls,  as  if  in  pity  for  their  nakedness.  I  found  a 
few  specimens  of  the  beautiful  lilac  Soldanella  alpina,  and 
also  several  tufts  of  the  glacier  Ranunculus,  on  a  kind  of 
morain  at  the  foot  of  a  hardened  snow-wreath.  The  Ranun¬ 
culus  was  higher  up,  and  grew  on  the  loose  debris,  without 
a  particle  of  verdure  around  it.  It  seemed  like  the  last 
effort  of  expiring  nature  to  fringe  the  limit  of  eternal  snow 
with  life. 
On  this  hill  (Mont  Chenaletta),  composed  of  very  friable 
schistose  rock,  I  gathered  a  considerable  number  of  very 
interesting  plants  peculiar  to  the  Alps.  The  Arnica  mon- 
tana  displayed  its  large  yellow  composite  flowers  in  the 
shady  recesses  of  the  rocks  ;  and,  as  if  to  illustrate  the 
proverb  that  the  antidote  is  ever  beside  the  evil,  I  found  its 
juicy  stems  very  serviceable  in  healing  a  bruise  on  the  leg 
which  I  got  from  a  falling  stone  when  gathering  specimens. 
Another  composite  plant,  the  Chrysanthemum  alpinum, 
whitened  in  thousands  the  slopes  of  debris.  It  has  been 
observed,  with  Phyteuma  pauciflora,  beside  the  Lys  glacier 
on  Monte  Rosa,  at  11,352ft.  Nothing  could  exceed  the 
beauty  and  luxuriance  of  the  patches  of  Linaria  alpina, 
covered  with  a  profusion  of  orange  and  purple  labiate 
blossoms,  which  spread  everywhere  over  the  loose  soil.  No 
less  striking  were  the  sheets  of  Forget-me-not-like  flowers, 
blue  as  the  sky  itself,  produced  by  the  Eritrichium  nanum, 
growing  in  the  moist  sunny  fissures.  At  the  base  of  the  hill 
on  the  Italian  side,  where  there  was  a  slight  tinge  of  grassy 
verdure,  the  yellow  Star  of  Bethlehem  (Ornithogalum  fistulo- 
sum)  and  the  Nigritella  angustifolia  struggled  into  existence. 
The  former  rises  an  inch  or  two  above  the  soil,  and  produces 
two  or  three  brilliantly  yellow  flowers  on  each  stem  ;  while 
the  compact  showy  heads  of  deep  blackish  crimson  flowers 
of  the  latter,  springing  from  very  short  and  very  narrow’ 
leaves,  diffuse  a  fine  vanilla-like  fragrance.  At  lower  eleva¬ 
tions  they  grow  in  great  profusion,  and  form  the  finest  orna¬ 
ments  of  the  Alpine  pastures. 
Among  the  Saxifrages  which  I  observed  "rowing  more  or 
less  plentifully  were  the  S.  androsacea  (of  which  I  could  get 
no  specimen  perfect,  for  the  marmot  is  so  fond  of  it  that  it 
nibbles  its  stems,  leaves,  and  flowTers  all  round),  the  S. 
bryoides,  Aizoon,  biflora,  csesia,  and  muscoides.  A  short 
distance  below  the  summit  there  were  several  large  snow- 
wreaths.  Their  perpetual  drip  nourished  a  glowing  little 
colony  of  the  unrivalled  Gentiana  bavarica,  and  the  compact 
sheets  of  the  Androsace  glacialis,  sprinkled  over  with  bright 
pink  solitary  flowers.  In  one  place  there  was  a  curious 
natural  conservatory.  The  under  surface  of  tfye  snowT  having 
been  melted  by  the  warmth  of  the  soil— which  in  Alpine 
regions  is  always  markedly  higher  than  that  of  the  air — wTas 
not  in  contact  with  it.  A  snowy  vault  was  thus  formed, 
glazed  on  the  too  with  thin  plates  of  transparent  ice  ;  and 
here  grew  a  most  lovely  cushion  of  the  Aretia  helvetica. 
covered  with  hundreds  of  its  delicate  rosy  flowers,  like  a 
miniature  Hydrangea  blossom.  The  dark  colour  of  the  soil 
favoured  the  absorption  of  heat  ;  and,  prisoned  in  its  crystal 
cave,  this  little  fairy  grew  and  blossomed  securely  from  the 
very  heart  of  winter,  the  unfavourable  circumstances  around 
all  seeming  so  many  ministers  of  good,  increasing  its  strength 
and  enhancing  its  loveliness. — W.  J. 
(To  be  concluded.) 
September  4,  1932. 
South  African  Market  Gardening. 
The  market  gardener  is  to  a  considerable  extent  a  yet  unknown 
quantity  in  South  Africa.  In  the  Transvaal  this  is  especially  the 
case.  There  has  always  been  a  good  market  for  all  kinds  of  garden 
produce  in  Johannesburg,  but  the  demand  has  invariably  been 
greater  than  the  supply.  The  same  remark  applies  to  most  of 
the  towns  and  villages1  in  South  Africa,  with  the  exception  of 
Cape  Town,  and  here  vegetables  such  as  Cabbages,  Peas,  Beans, 
and  Tomatoes  can  be  obtained  at  reasonable  prices.  In  Natal  the 
“  market  gardens  ”  are  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  coolies. 
These  people  were  originally  brought  over  from  India  under  in¬ 
dentures  to  work  on  the  railways  for  a  certain  number  of  years. 
After  their  period  of  service  expii’ed  they  took  up  plots  on  the 
land  between  Durban  and  Pietermaritzburg.  They  have  turned 
their  attention  principally  to  fruit  and  keep  the  market  well 
supplied  with  Bananas  and  Pine  Apples,  which  can  generally  be 
bought  at  the  rate  of  2s.  per  100  for  the  former,  and  six  for  a 
shilling  of  the  latter.  They  are  not  market  gardeners  in  reality, 
though  they  are  called  so.  Chinamen  are  popularly  supposed  to 
be  excellent  market  gardeners,  at  least  this  is  the  opinion  held 
in  Australia  and  the  Pacific  coast.  Some  of  these  people  have  at 
times  settled  down  in  the  Colonies  and  started  gardens,  but  Euro¬ 
peans  in  Africa  will  have  no  dealings  with  them,  and  they  have 
had  to  turn  their  attention  to  trading  with  the  natives. 
The  Boers,  as  a  rule,  live  on  Pumpkins.  This  is  their  one 
vegetable  food  Pumpkins  are  no  trouble  to  grow,  they  are  also 
no  trouble  to  prepare  for  the  table,  and  it  is  hard  to  enter  a  Boer 
homestead  at  the  dinner  hour  without  finding  this  vegetable  on 
the  table.  Pumpkin  is  very  well  in  its  way,  but  Englishmen  soon 
tire  of  it  and  look  for  others,  which  as  a  rule  they  cannot  get. 
On  the  mines  along  the  Witwatersrand  reef  the  great  difficulty 
the  men  had  to  contend  with  was  the  absence  of  all  green  food. 
Many  of  these  mines  employed  as  many  as  five  or  six  hundred 
Europeans,  and  it  is  not  going  beyond  the  mark  to  say  that  the 
white  men  on  the  reef  would  have  disposed  of  enough  garden 
produce  to  have  kept  dozens  of  gardeners  busy,  but  no  attempt 
was  ever  made  to  supply  them.  The  writer  lived  on  one  occa¬ 
sion  for  about  a  year  on  a  mine  situate  about  ten  miles  from 
Johannesburg,  and  during  that  period  the  only  vegetable  he 
partook  of,  leaving  the  inevitable  Pumpkin  on  one  side,  were 
of  the  potted  variety. 
After  the  present  difficulties  are  satisfactorily  settled,  there 
will  be  great  openings  for  qualified  market  gardeners  in  Africa. 
The  climate  is  all  that  could  be  desired.  Labour  is  cheap,  natives 
can  be  engaged  to  work  for  15s.  a  month,  and  their  food;  the 
latter  consisting  of  maize  with  an  occasional  supply  of  meat,  costs 
very  little.  With  a  growing  population,  ever  increasing  markets 
will  be  opened  up  in  all  the  large  towns  and  villages  of  the 
colonies  and  the  Transvaal.  A  few  years  ago  an  expex’t  travelled 
though  the  country  districts  of  the  Cape  and  Natal  giving 
lectures  on  dairy  farming.  This  "entleman  was  despatched  on 
this  errand  by  the  Government,  and  the  farmers  came  in  in 
numbers  to  listen  to  him  and  to  ask  his  advice,  since  which  a  great 
improvement  in  the  supply  of  dairy  pi-oduce  has  been  noticeable. 
The  xnarket  gaixlenei”,  however,  has  been  altogether  neglected. 
— D.  G.  R. 
[It  is  certain  the  opinion  expressed  above  will  be  justified  by 
the  development  of  a  market  gardening  indxxstry  in  the  neighbour¬ 
hood  intervening  between  Johannesburg  and  Pretoria,  which  lie 
some  fifty  miles  apart.  There  the  marvels  witnessed  at  Melbounie 
and  San  Francisco  during  the  second  decade  of  their  existence — 
1860-1870 — are  sure-  of  being  reproduced,  so  that  ten  years  hence 
a  population  of  some  two  hundred  thousand  or  more  will  be  crying 
for  fresh  vegetable  food  dux-ing  the  summer  months.  The  demand 
for  Peas,  Cauliflowers,  Cabbages,  Tomatoes,  Melons,  Potatoes  and 
Brussels  Sprouts  will  be  enormous.  But  intending  emigrants 
should  l'ecollect  that,  compared  with  England,  it  is  an  arid  land, 
and  the  soil  can  only  be  kept  moist  and  friable  during  the  winter 
and  spring  months  by  continual  watering  or  even  irrigation,  if 
good  results  in  market  garden  pi'oduce  are  to  be  obtained.  Then 
with  the  summer  come  swamping  thundei'storms  and  often 
astounding  hailstorms,  which  desti-oy  unprotected  vegetables  and 
fruits. 
Hence  the  newcomer  must  have  a  little  capital  if  he  wishes  to 
secure  the  first  fruits  of  the  new  condition  of  things.  So  wonder- 
ful,  however,  are  the  productive  properties  of  the  soil  when 
plentifully  irrigated,  that  a  skilfxxl  cultivator  will  rapidly  reap  the 
reward  of  his  labours  in  the  matter  of  produce,  while  for  the  fii'st 
half  a  dozeix  years  prices  will  undoubtedly  rule  high.  It  may  be 
said  that  in  infixing  communities  market  gardening  is  the  one 
industry  which  is  not  overdone.  Moreover,  the  Rand  is  not  in 
the  nature  of  a  precarious  alluvial  mining  camp,  but  a  centre  of 
solid  wealth,  which  will  attract  the  class  of  luxurious  persons  who 
consume  fresh  food  in  large  quantities.  Pastoral  farmers  like 
the  Boers  and  isolated  miners  gradually  learn  to  dispense  with 
fresh  butter,  ci’eam,  milk,  and  vegetables.  In  couixtries  such  as 
