HeceinLer  24,  1903. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
573 
The  chief  industry  is  the  growtli  of  tlie  Sugar  Cane.,  and  the 
extraction  of  the  saccharine  .iuice,  the  plantations  being  worked 
by  coolies  brouglit  from  Indian  territory.  The  liome  Govern¬ 
ment  have  several  sailing  vessels  going  back  and  forward  be¬ 
tween  Bombay  and  Calcutta,  bringing  new  apprentices  and 
returning  time-expired  men.  These  coolies  are  well  looked  after, 
as  each  plantation  has  to  find  .suitable  housing.  A  regulated 
dietary  is  enforced,  and  a  doctor  attends.  Each  coolie  is 
apprenticed  for  five  years.  At  the  termination  of  that  time  they 
can  put  in  another  five  years  as  free  men.  and  at  the  end  of  ten 
year's  they  are  returned,  if  they  so  desire.  Eacli  coolie  costs 
the  planter  £3o  to  bring  over.  31any  of  these  coolies  prefer  to 
remain  cn  tke  island,  and  some  of  those  who  go  away  come 
back  again,  "so  that,”  added  Mr.  Barr,  “there  is  a  danger  of 
Fiji  becoming  a  coolie  settlement.” 
Tea  of  superior  quality  is  cultivated  on  an  island  off  Lavouka 
by  a  Mr.  Bobbie,  a  Scot.sman,  who  is  also  a  shipping  agent,  and 
there  is  at  the  new  capital  a  botanic  garden  recently  establi.shed 
by  the  former  Governor,  Mr.  Thurston  ;  but  the  situation,  Mr. Barr 
thinks,  was  badly  chosen.  Trees  can  only  be  grown  on  raised  banks, 
owing  to  the  level  gi'ound  being  within  two  feet  of  salt  under¬ 
water.  Mr.  Barr  communicated  with  the  Director  of  the  Boj'al 
Gardens  at  Kew,  who  replied  that  he  had  placed  the  matter  in 
the  hands  of  the  proper  authorities,  and  that  there  was  likely 
to  be  a  change.  It  reflects  with  discredit  on  a  Governor  who 
cared  only  for  Roses  for  his  own  table,  and  who  denied  th.e 
curator  the  freedom  to  make  exchanges  of  plants  and  seeds  with 
other  stations  and  botanical  gardens.  It  also  points  to  extreme 
ignorance  on  his  part  of  the  primary  duties  of  his  office. 
M  Idle  at  the  Fiji  botanic  garden  Mr.  Barr  saw  many 
variegated  Colenise.s,  and  the  curator  informed  him  that  all  had 
been  collected  wild  from  the  “  bush.”  The  veteran  asks  whether 
it  be  po.ssible;  that  Mr.  Bause  might  not  have  had  a  packet  of 
.seeds  from  Fiji  as  a  starting  point? 
The  i.slands  are  very  interesting,  and  all  the  merchants.seemed 
to  be  doing  well.  .  IMr.  Barr  mentions  having  seen  numbers  of 
natives  intoxicated  in  one  of  the  refreshment  houses,  through 
drinking  a  native  preparation.  Lavouka,  the  ancient  capital,  i.s' 
a  busy  little  place. 
Samoa  is  a  German  settlement,  but  it  did  not  appear  that  the 
Germans  were  particularly  pro.sperou.s.  Here  Mr.  Barr  visited 
R.  L.  Stevenson’s  tomb,  which  was  in  perfect  preservation,  and 
likely  to  remain  so  for  thou.sands  of  year.s,  provided  that  relic 
hiuiters  left  it  intact.  Our  travelle'r  had  read  in  a  Scottish 
paper  that  the  tomb  was  neglected  by  the  natives,  and  was 
going  to  ruin,  but  this  was  absolutely  untrue.  “  If  Stevenson’s 
friends  and  admirers  desire  to  do  something,”  said  Mr.  Barr, 
“  let  them  put  a  rail  around  the  tomb.” 
Samoa  is  a  great  centre  for  Cocoa-iiiit  Palms,  and  the  unrip? 
fruits  yield  a  cool  refreshing  drink.  When  sufficientlv  young 
the  meat  has  not  formed  in  the  nut.  A  little  native  boy"  climbed 
up  one  of  the  trees  like  a  monkey,  and  threw  down  the  nuts. 
In  Tonga  Mr.  Barr  made  an  effort  to  interview  the  King,  but 
the  latter  was  somewhat  shy,  though  he  pro.:ni.sed  an  interview. 
Later  on,  however,  he  sent  to  say  that  he  was  so  much  occupied 
with  busine.ss  that  he  regretted  he  could  not  see  the  itinerant. 
The  mes-senger  assured  Mr.  Barr  that  tire  King  was  a  very  hard- 
■worked  man,  and  that  the  concerns  of  state  occupied  much  time 
and  thought.  Mr.  Barr  also  had  the  opportunity  to  visit  several 
adjacent  islands  in  a  steamer  engaged  in  collecting  copra,  which 
is  the  dried  Cocoa-nut.  This  is  sent  to  Europe  to  be  used  in 
confectionery,  biscuit  manufacture,  and  also  is  used  in  high-class 
.soaps.  From  here  Mr.  Barr  returned  by  way  of  New  Zealand 
to  Sydney. 
The  next  tour  was  in  a  different  class  of  steamer — the  type 
employed  for  conveying  missionaries  and  their  goods  back  and 
fro  among  the  islands.  Lord  Howe’s  Island  was  the  first  place 
of  call,  and  here  a  magistrate  was  put  off,  who  periodically 
sojo'Urns  among  the  natives  to  deal  justice  in  cases  of  dispute. 
At  the  port,  here,  there  was  the  beginnings  of  a  fish-drying  e.stab- 
lishment.  The  sea  running  somewhat  heavy,  the  passengers 
were  not  allowed  to  land,  and  so  the  ship  made-  for  Norfolk 
Island,  the  home  of  the  Pine  of  that  name,  or,  botanically. 
Araucaria  excel.-.^a.  Here  the  party  remained  for  some  hours— 
sufficient  time  to  cross  the  island  and  view  the  old  convict 
establishment.  On  the  walls  of  many  of  tlie  old  cells  there  were 
the  names  of  the  bygone  prisoners,  written,  doubtless,  by  them¬ 
selves.  After  removing  the  prisoners  from  there,  the  island 
was  allotted  to  the  families  of  the  luutineers  from  the  Bounty, 
who  started  busine.ss  by  sheep  rearing;  but  they  .soon  grew  dis¬ 
satisfied  with  this,  and  now  there  i.s  scarcely  a  .sheep  oirNorfolk 
Island.  The  C  hurch  of  England  has  a  missionary  college  here, 
for  training  native  preachers,  who  also  are  sent  to  Banks  Island. 
The  Araucaria  already  mentioned  is  very  abundant,  and  some 
handsome  specimens  are  to  be  seen,  but  other  trees  of  the  same 
.species  in  Amstralia  and  even  South  Africa,  according  to  Mr. 
Barr,  will  compare  favourably  with  the  indigenous  repre¬ 
sentatives. 
(To  be  continued.) 
Novelties,  or  Improvements  in  Flowers. 
The  permsahef  some  of  the  beautifully  got  up  and  hand.somejy 
illustrated  seed  catalogues  which  one  usually  receives  at  this 
season,  has  reminded  me  cf  a  morning  in  .July  last.  Having  come 
to  judge  the  Roses  at  a  certain  annual  flower  show,  I  had  an 
hour  or  so  to  wait  for  the  appointed  time,  and  between  some 
showers  wandered  with  permission  into  a  good-sized  field  adjoin¬ 
ing  the  show  ground,  which  was  being  used  as  a  seedground  for 
flowers,  many  cf  winch  were  of  more  or  less  new  strains  or 
varieties. 
Among  these  I  strolled  as  a  complete  outsider,  with,  in  many 
cases,  as  much  ignorance  of  the  “  manners  and  customs  ”  of  the 
plants  I  saw  as  “the  man  in  the  .street,”  and  yet  I  hope  with 
that  feeling  of  the  general  principles  of  beauty  which  can  hardly 
be  absent  from  one  who  dur.s’  know  a  little  about  .so/ne  flowers. 
The  thing  that  struck  me  was  that  if  a  flower  was  novel,  with  any 
variation  from  the  type,  it  was  preserved  and  propagated  and 
cheri.shed  without  any  thought  as  to  whether  the  variation  was 
an  improvement  or  not. 
Of  course,  it  may  well  have  been  that  the  final  selection  as 
to  whether  the  novelty  was  an  improvemeiit  or  not  had  not  yet 
taken  place,  and  was  waiting  for  expert  decision  as  to  whether 
it  was  wortli  sending  out,  Ac.  And,  again,  I  am  sO'  ignorant  in 
the  matter  that  many  of  the  things  I  thought  rrovel  were  very 
likely  nothing  of  the  sort,  but  comparatively  well  known. 
However,  I  think  many  will  agree  with  me  that  a  novelty 
is  very  often  sent  out  because  it  is  a  novelty,  without  much 
thougiit  as  to  whether  it  is  an  advance  in  beauty  on  the  type; 
and,  though  I  took  no  notes,  I  can  remember  the  thoughts 
which  struck  me  as  to  three  or  four  of  the  flowers  I  saw. 
A  white  double  Campanula  with  the  “bell”  entirely  filled  up 
with  an  irregular  mass  of  half-formed  white  petals;  it  ^ 
bell  no  longer,  but  solid,  and  a  n\icroscopical  fairy  could  not 
have  got  inside  it.  Surely  this  was  emphatically  a  variation  for 
the  worse,  and  not  for  the  better.  .  . 
Suinnipr  or  annual  C  lirvsantliennuns,  double,  or  rather  seini- 
double,  the  “  eye  ”  completely  spoiled  by  some  of  the  stamens 
being  half  formed  into  petals,  were  there,  those  I  saw  were 
neither  one  thing  nor  the  other  ;,  neither  double  nor  single,  the 
characteristic  beauty  of  either  a  double  or  single  flower 
entirely  absent.  For  perfection,  more  is  i-equired  of  a  double 
flower  than  a  single;  but  a  single  must  maintain  the  beauty  of 
its  “  eye,”  as  well  as  of  its  petals,  or  its  glory  is  lost.  ,  , 
Then  I  remember  to  hav'e  noticed  a  large'  quantity  ot  L  andytutt, 
a  flower  that  seems  to  have  been  improved  but  little  compared 
with  many  others.:  It  was  of  the  ordinary'  lilac  colour,  palei 
towards  the  centre,  which  may  be,  for  all  that  I  know,  the  ii.sual 
habit.  It  seems  to  me  to  give  an  imiiression  ot  weakness  ,  the 
of  a  flower,  to  mv  idea,  should  always  be  its  .stronge.st 
•hether  double  or  single.  I  look  upon  the  centre  ot  a 
far  more  important  than  the  outline  of  the  o.utside 
centre 
point,  w 
Rose  as 
petals,  just  as  I  should  dwell  more  on  my  lady’s  face,  and  especi¬ 
ally  on  her  eyes,  than  on  the  edges  of  her  skirts.  Ihe  petals  of  a 
_  ...  .  *■  ■  1  I  .lV _ _ _  I «...  4- U  ^ /-I  -f /-V  muHti  itlVCiP-r^l  I  n 
flower  direct 
the  centre; 
Hibiscus,  cf 
It  generally 
the  centre  is  a  w 
sight,  as  they  are  intended  to  guide  insects,  to 
that  centre  or  eye  should  be,  I  think,  as  in 
intense  colour  than  the  rest  of  the  flower, 
is  so  and  where,  as  in  the  case  of  this  Candytuft, 
reaker  shade  of  the  .same  colour,  an  impression  ot 
our 
and 
more 
a  mal- 
i  liter- 
weakness  and  poorness  is  giyen  to  ine.  ...  „f 
Next  I  remember  some  Antirrhinums  that  tor  dwartne.ss  ot 
habit  'appeared  to  haye^got  to  the  furthest  pos.sdile  I 
.suppo.se  these  are  the  "  Tom  Ihumb  yarieties.  W  ell,  Genera! 
Tom  Thumb”  (I  I’einember  hiiu)  was  a  moiistei, 
formed  creature,  contrary  to  Nature,  and  to  my  mind  the 
mediate  forms  of  Antirrhinum  are  quite  dwart  eiiough ,  but 
perhaps  this  would  be  more  a  matter  ot  iiidiyidual  taste  tlian 
the  other  examples  I  haye  mentioned.  .  ..  .  .  , , 
Mignonette,  too,  I  rememner,  so  gigantic  in  .spike  that  the, 
folia  cm  looked  unnaturally  out  of  proportion.  And  in  this  case 
the  Tieauty  of  the  spike  itself  seemed  to  be  last  becau.se  of  its 
size  for  in  medium  development  not  more  than  two  or  three 
rows  of  florets  in  the  centre  of  the  spike  were  in  flower  those 
above  them  being  in  bud,  and  those  below  them  in 
thus  the  whole  spike  wa.s  never  in  full  and  perfect  beauty. 
Moreover,  have  not  those  large  spiked  strains  suffered  fiom  want 
^These  are  criticisms  from  one  who  is  confessedly  ignorant  of 
annuals  and  perennials  beyond  the  knowledge  which  comes  from 
a  (general  love  of  flowers  ;  and  are  only  meant  to  warn  those  who 
are  equally  uninformed  that  novelties  are  not  necessarily 
improvements. — W  .  R.  Raillem. 
An  Importers’  National  Association. — A  movenient  is  oii 
foot  in  the  F.S.A.  to  organise  an  Importers’  National  A.ssocia- 
tion,  the  object  of  which  is  to  intervene  for  tlie  protec¬ 
tion’  of  its  individual  members  from  injustice,  to  prevent 
undervaluations,  and  to  establish  the  proper  rates  ot  duty  on 
imported  merchandise,  Ac. 
