58 THE INTER-RELATIONS OF
that has in recent years produced an enormous crop of the most
luscious fruit. The well-known Milton's Mulberry Tree of Christ's
College, Cambridge, shows that two centuries ago this fine fruit was
grown on isolated trees as far north, at least, as Cambridge. The
Apricot, again, loves the sunny south, for it appears that of sixteen
varieties, thirteen do well south of the River Trent while only six
will ripen and flourish north of that climatic boundary. In the
South of England we see Hops flourishing and abundantly culti-
vated in some localities and entirely absent in others, although
the soil and the underlying rocks may be similar. The Hop
districts of England are on various formations, each and all repre-
sented in other areas, and yet it is only in these districts that Hops
can be grown with profit, a fact that points to the favouring cause
being the climate and not the soil.
The sensitiveness of some flowers and shrubs to meteorological
conditions is painfully known to those who, in the not smokeless at-
mosphere of London and its suburbs, endeavour to grow roses or to
adorn their gardens with the common laurel, while they have no
difficulty with the geranium or the privet. Much has been done
during the last twenty years by the managers of our public parks
and gardens, to show to the most uninstructed of the population
of our great towns, the effects of climate on vegetation. The Sub-
Tropical Garden in Battersea Park, is a thing of beauty which is a
joy for a long time, at least to all who pay it a visit in the summer,
and strikingly reveals to the untravelled Londoner the glories of
the foliage of umbrageous southern climes. In the other parks of
London, too, following the example set nearly thirty years ago in
the exquisite little Parc de Monceaux of Paris, sub-tropical plants
are displayed during the summer months, that both highly decorate
the well-kept lawns, and profitably instruct the minds of the people.
A most charming "bit" is the dell at the end of the Serpentine,
in Hyde Park, where rock, foliage, lawn and water, shaded by large
trees and adorned by the grand foliage of the palm, and enlivened, too,
by the presence of water-fowl, peacocks, pigeons and rabbits, make
up an exquisite scene at all times open to the poorest, and almost
bring the South of Italy into the midst of London. But certainly
the best tropical effect in England is produced by the accumulated
equatorial foliage of the great Palm House of Kew Gardens, where
to an observer standing on the iron stairs a very fine jungle appear-
ance is seen around.