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tlie colony arc the grape, apple, cherry, plum, peach, nectarine, apricot, fig, orange,
lonion, citron, pomegranate, almond, mulbeiTy, guava, melon, and, in short, all the
fruits esteemed by Europeans. No grapes of Europe are considered preferable to those
of this colony. The colony of Capetown consists chiefly of vine-growers. They are,
however, of Dutch extraction ; possess farms oi‘ about 120 English acres ; and the
culture of the grape, with an elegant garden, generally occupies the whole. The lands
arc surrounded and divided by oak and quince hedges ; and the vines, cultivated as m
France and Germany, have the appearance of plantations of raspberries. The Cape
market is richly supplied from these gardens. Between Table Bay and False Bay arc
the two farms producing the Constantia wine. Here most of the above fruits thrive ;
hut gooseberries, currants, plums, and chen'ics do not succeed at all.
832. The omamental plants o f the Cape are well known ; among them may he
reckoned almost all our heaths, diosmas, pelargoniums, a profusion of genera belonging
to the fiimilies of iridcæ and AmaryllirfeiP, the splendid StrclitzM, Mcsembiyanthemum,
A'loe, Gnaphàlium, Protect, and many other genera.
833. The cultivation o f the interior o f the country is not without interest, and will be
found in the Encyclopædia o f Agricidture, § 1113. to 1139. The plants used by the
iiatiTos as food, and for clothing and lionse-building, arc also interesting ; and some of
their dwellings and ntcnsils may afford hints for ornamental buildings in pleasure-
gi'ounds.
Subsect. 5. Gardening in the African Islands.
834. The Mauritius, or the Isle o f France, contains one of the oldest botanic gardens
existing in the tropics ; and which, while in possession of the French, was the source
whence the nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, and other usetul trees were sent to the West
India Islands. This garden contains a very extensive collection, embracing most of the
hu*gc-leaved plants of New Holland, many of the Cape plants, and the gi-catcr number
of those from the East Indies and Cliina. Mr. Newman, who was the curator m 1830,
informs us that ho maintains a correspondence with the gardens in most parts of the
globe ; and that he has almost exclusive communication with that great field of science,
Madagascar. “ The garden,” he says, “ although laid out in the oldesf French style,
has the advantage of being iiTigatcd, thereby saving a number of hands, and effectually
watering the plants in the driest seasons.” {Gard. Maq., vol. vi. p. 484.)
835. The cultivation o f asparagus in the Mauritius affords a proof of the great difference
between the culture of a plant in a temperate climate and between the tropics.
Asparagus in the Mauritius appears above ground a fortnight after being sown ; and in
two months shows flowers, wliich it docs not in Britain in less than tivo years. From
the time of sowing to that of cutting for the table occupies no more than ten or fomteen
months ; and at the end of two years the beds, being exhausted, arc destroyed. In
Britain, asparagus beds last half a century. In the Mauritius, asparagus is forced hy
immdatiiig the beds with water : in Britain, the same eficct is produced by covering
them with warm dung. Three crops of peas from three successive generations arc
obtained in the same season. {Ibid., p. 485.)
836. The Isle o f Bourbon has a botanic garden, which was richly endowed by
Louis Philippe, while king of the Fi'cnch ; and it contains, besides the productions of the
island, a splendid collection of African and Asiatic plants. It is situated on rising
ground in the middle of the town, and occupies fourteen English acres. Besides this, within
the last three years, there has been established a “ jardin de naturalisation,” or a garden
expressly devoted to the purpose of inuring foreign plants to bear and thrive in the
climate of the island ; a most useful institution, and one to which wc would call the
attention of our V an Diemen’s Land Society, as well as of the government and of our
readers generally. It contains about eight English acres, and, together with the
botanical garden, disfribntes upwards of 10,000 trees and shnibs annually among the
colonists in this most improving little island. U. Brccan, a gentleman of high literary and
scientific attainments, superintends the management of both gardens. {Gard. Mag.,
vol. vii. p. 664.)
837. The Canary Islands are celebrated for thcir honey, more especially that made
by the bees on the peak of Tencriffc. The inhabitants of every village in the neighbourhood
of the Peak c a n y thcir bce-hivcs, which arc formed of the hollow trunks of
the dragon tree (Dracæ'na), in the month of May, and place them in the crevices of
rocks. Millions of bees then swiu-m round the large and fragrant bushes of the white
rctama, or white broom (Spartium mibigenum), and veiy soon fill the hives. Tho
honey, whicli is taken from them twice every summer, is always_in gi-eat abundance;
and neither Ilymcttus nor Chamouni have ever ])roduccd any thing equal to it ; it is
so pure and transparent, and its taste is so ai-omatic and delicious. {Gard. Mag., vol. ii.
* 838. In Madeira, the garden products arc those of boUi hemispheres. Dr. Walsh
remarks that, in general, grapes and potatoes rarely thrive together; the heat and
dryness necessary to mature the one, being very inimical to the o th e r; but m Madeir^
where every sti-atum of elevation gives a different soil and climate, all plants and truits
grow up and prosper. He saw in the market-place at Funchal, figs (black and green),
bananas iu bunches, citrons, apples, pears, large red onions, peaches (hard and unnpe,
being preferred in that state), grapes of several qualities, including a small d a ^
called Unto, the clusters of which sometimes weigh twenty pounds, the roots of Caladtum
csculentum, tho acridity of which, being volatile, is dissipated by boilmg or b ak in g ;
and the leaves, which, though forbidding in aspect, like those of the Enghsh cuckoo-
pint, are yet boiled and eaten, and called Indian kale. The soil producing the best
grapes is the poorest and most stony, resembling that of some of the best vineyards ot
the Rhine. {Notices o f Brazil, vol. i. p. 34.)
839. The group o f ihe Azores is the most northern of those islands which dot the
^Ltlantic : they are of volcanic origin, and for the most part fertile. The island of
St. Michael, celebrated for its oranges, is by far the most productive. Not an acre ot
arable soil. Dr. Walsh obseiwes, is lost ; and “ both European and tropical vegetation
flourishes side by side, in the most luxm-iant manner. Wheat and banani^, _figs_ and
cabbages, oranges and potatoes, are equally abundant and excellent in their kind.
{Ibid., vol. i. p. 512.)
Sect. III. Gardening in North America.
840. The qardenim o f North America is necessarily that of Europe, ancl, as is the
case of otlicr arts in every new country, the useful departments are more generally cultivated
than the ornamental. B. M‘Mahon, in his American Kalendar, says, “ Amciica
has not yet made that rapid progi-ess in gardening, ornamental planting, and iancitui
rural designs, which might naturally be expected from an intelligent, happy, and mdc-
pendent people, possessed so nniyersally of landed property, ™opp'csscd by taxation or
tithes, and blessed with consequent comfort and affluence. (Pref.) We shall notice the
state of the aid midor the usual arrangement.
SuBSEOT. 1. Gardening in North America, as an A r t o f Design and Taste.
841. Landscape-Gardening is practised in the United States on a ciomparatiTcly
limited scale ; because. In a country where all men have equal rights, and where (Jvciy
man, however humble, has a house and garden of his own, it is not hkcly that there
should ho many large parks. The only splendid examples of park and hothouse g«'«™-
ing that, we trust, will ever be found in the United States, and ultimately m every other
country, arc such as will be formed by towns and vfflages, or other communities, tor the
ioint use and enioymcnt of all the inhabitants or members. With a ™w to this end, and
to this end only, are tho gardens of the monarchs and magnates of Europe at all ivoith
studying. The general appearance of the country is thus doscnbetl by Mr. James
McNah, when he visited America in the autumn of 1834. “ Before landing at New
York, the countiy appears to a stranger of a veiy dark and dismal hue, from the
quantity of pines and red cedars which clothe the more conspicuous prominences ; but
after lauding, the whole, from the prevalence of fine trees and shrabs, appcare like one
vast garden. The stranger is strongly impressed with the beauty and number of the trees,
which are partly iiidigonous to the locality or tho district, and partly nitrodiiced from
more southern climates. The diversity of the forms of the trees and the variety of their
foliage are most remarkable. No remains of ancient forests are observable, as might bo
supposed, these having been long smce cut doivn for fuel ; but forest trees of largo size
arc frequently to be seen, covered to thcir summits with wild vines. Of these the
Platanus occidcntàlis, Liriodéndron, Liquidámbar, Gledítscbái triaoaiithos, and the Catalpa
arc pre-eminent. I t is worthy of remark, that almost tho only foreign trees conspicuous
in the artificial sceneiy of America are various kinds of fruit trees, the Lombardy poplar,
and the weeping willow. The contrast between tho regular position and round tufted
heads of the fruit trees and the lance-shaped heads of the poplars, and between both these
trees and the wild luxuriance of the indigenous species, is very stnlung. About sixfy-
seven miles np the country, on the river Hudson, a limestone district occurs ; and on this
the lively green of the arbor vitæ succeeds to the dark hue of the red cédai-. All the uncultivated
parts of the surface are covered with this tree, of different sizes, vaiying from
one foot to twenty feet in height, and always of a pyi-amidal shape.” {Quarterly Journal
o f Agriculture, yo\.Y. p. ,
842. Hyde Park, on ihe Hudson, is generally considered the first in point of landscape-
gardening in America. Its proprietor, Dr. David Hosack, was a botanist, and a man ot
taste. The natm-al capacity of this seat for improvement has been takeii advantage ot
in a vei-y iudicious manner ; and cvei-y circumstance has been laid hold of, and acted
upon, which could tend to beautify or adorn it. The mansion is splendid and convc