The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-04
THE KING OF SIAM AT KEW.
Botanical knowledge Apparently
One of His SpecinIties.


He arrived there an hour before the pub
lie We're admitted, so we had the place to
ourselves during most Of the time. Mr..
Thistleton Dyer received his majesty, and
conducted him through the gardens. Here.
! then, was another opportunity to correct
| impressions Of the kings character. Be-
fore we arrived we were told that, among
other things, he was interested in horti-
! culture. He certainly is. In everything
shown him he manifested lively and in
! tellisent interest. At times, indeed. he be-
came absolutely enthusiastic. Moreover,
The constant smile had returned, and he
seemed to have recovered his vitality If
he had been feeling rather out of sorts on
the previous day, he was certainly quite
himself again. With his dark gray frock
| coat unbuttoned and his silk hat set a
! little back, he strolled in and about the
| houses peerng at the small plants, and
| pointing TO the larger ones with his stick.
| First we entered a cool fernery, and "Ah!"
cried the king, how well these things are
| growing. What is the temperature? p THE
| ordinary temperature" replied Mr.. Dyer.
Some of these ferns grow on the noun
| tains, was the next comment. Yes, they
! do" acquiesced the director. We've got
/ sumo VI them III oldillt GAtldlHet the III
| tie monarch. This was a remark that he
made several times during the afternoon.
Nothing seemed to please him so much as
the sight of a familiar plant. There are
| a lot of these in my country" This is
! what we have round our houses" Il have
! some of this in my garden" and so forth.
! He almost clapped his hands when he
! saw the asparagus plumOsus. isn't it
| nice? 1t grows just like asparagus, he
| informed Mr.. Dyer Perhaps he was
| little too prone to impart botanical know
ledge to Mr.. Dyer. However, he meant it
| kindly. Once and only once, did the royal
| botanist get out of his depth. Pointing to
| a small palm, he said. "Oh, much bigger
| in my country. This isn't nearly large
| enough Very poor-very poor, indeed"
This is the small variety" was Mr. Dy
| er's quiet comment, and the king said
OH and passed on. But the discomtit-
| ure was only momentary. In the lily
house he grew very enthusiastic, and,
! after scrutinizing and admiring all the
specimens, said: There is a beautiful
lily in my country that you haven't got.
1t IS called" and he mentioned a name
that neither I nor Mr.. Dyer recognized.
Il Will send you one" OF the wedding
flowers and the succulent plants generally
he said, with a wave of the hand: "All
these can grow in my country but you
grow them very WELL Unfortunately,
the orchids were nearly over, but the
few blooms were greatly admired. Il
want to show you our great water lily"
said Mr.. Dyer, and he led the way to the
Victoria Regia. Very nice-very large"
was the kings comment, but he promptly
turned away from the great leaves. A
specimen of coco-de-mer had caught his
| attention, and he struck one of the i'm
| mense seeds (there are none larger in the
world with his stick, and joyfully ex-
claimed, ooh, here is the double cocoa
nut. We have them in our temples"
One of the things that the king saw
for the first time was the Venus fly trap
He and his suite listened with open
mouths when MIR Dyer explained that il
caught flies and digested them. Nothing
would content his majesty but sight of
the actual occurrence. So an attendant
was set to catch fly, and, the right sort
of man being selected for the job fly
was duly caught 1t was put into one
of the plants, and the king watched with
keen interest the poor little creatures de-
tention and death. The center of the
plant, fly and all, was afterward present.
ed to one of the kings sons, who much
pleased with his acquisition, desired a rec
ord of the plants name and place of
origin. But he lacked pencil and paper,
and in his need he turned to one of my
colleagues, who wrote out the desired
particulars. please don't write it in
shorthand" 81 id the prince, and we all
laughed heartily at the joke. This his
royal highness cssayed to push the ac-
quaintance. What newspapers do you
come from?" he asked, and we told him
Good Lordp' exclaimed the prince, be-
traying his university education, "all the
newspapers are here, then" After a while
there came another inquiry from the royal
lips. How did you knew we were COM
ing to Kew" he asked, with a puzzled
air. Il can't imagine how you found out.
Did Col Darlington tell you?" Oh, no."
a.gpl ai Cd dol Mt
this suggestion. "Then''-very confden-
tially-"who did tell your mo one told
u.s." was the unblushing reply of one of
my colleagues; I'VE found OUT
1.-The palm house was the scene of the
kings greatest enthl.>1asm. His stick was
busy and his tongue was never still
''They are beautiful. You grow these
nicely. What is the temperature? We
have this kind in Siam. They grow in
the open air there. When l was in Java
I saw some like these. Buitenzorg is
there, you know-the Dutch Botanical
Gardens. Very fine. 1 have often gone
there" A magnificent gomuti palm threw
his majesty into ecstacies. He struck an
attitude, and waving his stick aloft,
cried; They grow very big-very splen-
did. They live for twenty years. Then
for the first time they bear fruit Then"
with something like break in his voice
they die" Mr.. Dyer nodded APPROX
ingly at this display of knowledge The
king rather spoilt the effect by asking:
This one has no fruit yet?' mo" said
Mr.. Dyer. you see it is not dying" All
this time Phya Tejo, as enthusiastic a
botanist as the king, was taking volumi-
nous notes of all he saw. As we crossed
the flower garden some late roses took
the kings fancy, and he was delighted
when Mr.. Dyer presented him with hand
some blooms of "Viscountess Folkestone"
and mime. Lambard." This is only my
first visit" said the king, enthusiastically. |
as he stepped into his carriage. 81 shall
come to Kew Gardens again. Then he
drove away to White Lodge where he
lunched with the Duke and Duchess of
Teck. Later in the day he went to Green
wich.
Indians with Blue Eyes.