St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-11-16
The Gardens Of Vancouver
Island.


more agreeably surprised than by
visit to the town of Victoria, which is
on the southeast point of VaneOuver's
Island and between latitude 4S0 and
49o in the North Pacific ocean. We
have been sailing for some days
on the Pacific aud along the straits of
San Juan de Fuca, the heavily snow
capped mountains of the Olympic max
ing the air so chilly that those who
kept in the open air at all had to do so
with Overcoats. or, if ladies', i'll warm
wraps of furs. All at once we came to
the mouth of Puget sound, opposite to
which is Victoria, and all was at once
pleasant. Summer weather and every
thing rs lovely and beautiful as the
prcttiest poet might imagine. The
harbor of Victoria is, however, small
and shallow, and, as a consequence,
our heavy vessel had to lie for six or
eight hours mile and half outside,
waiting for the tide to rise, and this
gave me opportunity to do some inter
esting botanizing among the rocks
along the coast.
The town of Victoria, which we
reached i'll the afternoon, is an indies
cIibably pretty place. 1t is built on a
high rocky bluff, and has park called
Beacon Hill, from its use in signaling
in those oldeu times when Indians
were troublesome. Though the noun
tain tops, some fifty miles away, are
pcrpetually white with Snow, except
when the morning and evening sun
lights them up i'll purple and gold, the
air in the town is warm Though with
a - 10 4 .,
sun-sixteen hours nOw-warming the
sheltered spots where the high noun
tain ridges keep of the arctic winds.
The people are fond of flowers, and
almost every cottage was embOwered
in vines, and seemed ready to break
down with their load of blossoms. In
my early life in England, | have mem
cries of whole buildings completely
covered from roof to the ground with
sweet roses and gratefully scented hon
eysuckles, but | have often found that
early memories become magnitied.
The distance of time lends an enchant-
ment to the early view. | had come
To suspect that the roses may not have
been quite so strong, nor the honey
suCklcs quite so sweet as these early
memories record them. But here
they were, even eXcelling these i'm
pressiOns and giving new echo to the
voices of youth. The tale was true.
The wild English honeysuckles, run
ming by the cottage door, rambling I'M
der the caves to almost gable end,
dropping in almost festOOns between
the windows, and only by the aid of
art permitting glimpse of the within,
and giving out thousands-yes, thou
sands of punches of their deliciOusly
scented purple, and white, and yellow
flowers. And the roses, and the pyra
cantha, and the evergreen ivy, and the
scores of other things which, even in
Philadelphia, cannot be grown without
much trouble, here they may be seen
climbing in wonderful luXuriance, or
making bushes, in some cases, nearly
as large as the habitations they adorned.
Roses. yes How they would have
charmed the hearts of an Ellwanger or
IA Parsons How the enormous "Jacks,"
10y the thousands, would have made
the purses trcmble of those florists who
with us only get them to perfection by
the lavish expenditure of cash and by
the sweat of their brows Even the
standard or tree roses are grown to an
enormous extent, and make the same
beautiful ornaments in yards that they
make in the old world. And the in
digenOus cinnamon rose grows in n
state which may almost call grandeur
| have it growing in my Germantown
garden, but about three feet is all the
height it cares to grow fol me. Here
you may see bushes nay, masses
scores of feet in diameter, ten feet or
more high, and bearing thousands of
their remarkably sweet, rosy flowers,
giving "A fragrance to the air for "A long
distance away. In many instances the
sweet brier and eglantine of the old
world had become natuTaliZed, and got
into the fraternal embraces of their
native brother; but those were al
SO growing with equal luxuriance,
showing that it is the climate which
does ii all.
When the time shall come that the
whole country shall be brought under
improved speed in travelling connec-
tions, and the United States shall he
but IA few days reach from this now
distant land, this ought to be the great
rose centre of the American continent.
Not only the rose, but numberless plants
cultivation, and are making their way
through the world, on their own ac-
count, most gloriously. The English
daisy, the "gowan fine" which Burns
tells us of in "Auld Lang Syne,' is get
ting ont everywhere among the grass,
and the furze and the broom and many
others abound in the woods and along
the rOad-sides.
In Mr.. Johnston's beautiful nurseries
! saw the deodar, and many other half
hardy evergreens with us, growing
magniticently, and | have never in any
part OF the wOrld-not even in its ma
tive home ut Calaveras, Mariposa, and
other places seen the great Mammoth
sequoia so evidently satisfied with this
world as in Mr.. JOhnston's grounds.
These nursery grounds are not very
large, but have more variety than
have seen in any nursery since | left
home. APPLES, pears, plums, and par
tIcularly cherries, make IA remarkably
vigorous and healthy growth, and just
now the cherries are breaking down
with their weight of fruit But here.
as elsewhere, good culture has to tell
its own story. Apple orchards are set
out, then they are left to struggle for
food with the grass or other vegetation,
and soon get yellow, hide bound, and
moss-clotted and then the owners
tell me 1.-THE apple is one of the fruits
which will not do in Victoria :" but
when you come TO places where the
apple has all the ground to itself, or
having other things growing with it,
is still MANFRED for both, then you will
see that the apple will do as well as
elsewhere.
And what country for the cooler
loving fruits and vegetables The
common currant grows five feet high,
and bears fruit as large as cherry or
4 /,