Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/590

584 wish to see teak, satin-wood, ebony, the mango, nutmeg, rambutan and other notable trees must first find out for each the two many-syllabled Latin words which are used to designate a plant for scientific purposes. As these words are painted on the labels in a sort of modified German script they are not quickly read. Besides this the labels are narrow and frequently the name will not go in one line, but must be divided. The division is often made, not with regard to the nature of the word, but to the convenience of the native who does the painting. So one may see such divisions as 'flavesce-ns,' 'co-mmune,' 'macrant-hum' 'integrif-olia' and some others quite as startling.

If there were signs up showing the families in a given lot, and if the labels gave the common names and native home of some of the more important trees, even the professional botanist would be pleased; to the ordinary visitor there would be added an interest now quite lacking. The guide books give a bad English translation, from the Dutch, of directions for seeing the garden. No one, however, unless gifted with second sight, could even keep to the course mapped out, let alone see the various objects mentioned. During my stay in Buitenzorg I used to get out the guide book most religiously every Sunday. But although I spent some hours every week day in systematic study of the gardens, I was never able to follow with ease the official itinerary.

But even if the guide book be maddening, one can find many interesting things without great trouble. The Canary Avenue is something which never palls. The fine collection of palms is a joy to look upon. There are all sorts of queer-looking and strange plants to attract attention. Screw pines with their curious prop roots interest every one and cycads and tree ferns deserve more than a passing glance.

One is sure to be impressed with the great number of trees bearing conspicuous flowers. More than one man has asked me, on finding me to be a botanist, whether our northern trees would blossom out handsomely if grown in the tropics. Of course I have to say 'no'; that a leopard would more easily change his spots.- It so happens that trees with large, showy flowers are more common in the tropics than in our part of the world. But we have the catalpa and tulip tree. There are plenty of trees in the tropics with inconspicuous flowers, too, but these the non-botanist does not notice.

The climate of Buitenzorg is very moist, there being a yearly rainfall of two hundred inches, or about six times that of New York. Dry spells seldom last long and the atmosphere is nearly saturated with moisture at all times. Correlated with the wet climate we find that many trees have leaves with long pointed drip-tips. The water from the surface of the leaf collects on these pointed tips and runs off quickly. Trees do not need a thick covering of cork to protect them from drying out or to save them from cold. So we find, instead of the