May 20.—Amongst the many beautiful tree: in Mrs, Deen's garden is a fine Tulip tree (Liriodendron Tultpifera). This tree is native to China and North America and it is not supposed to flower until it is over twenty years of age. There are not many to be seen in local gardens and we doubt whether there are any to equal in size the one we saw this morning: it is a noble specimen and it is literally covered with tulip-like flowers. The flowers are not very conspicuous on the tree, but they are very attractive when seen at close quarters: the three spreading sepals are light green and the six petals are also green with orange bases, a very attractive combination that is seldom seen in a flower. The numerous pistils form a column which is surrounded by many long stamens: the leaves of the Tulip tree are of a peculiar shape, they appear to have been cut with a pair of scissors and cannot be mistaken for those of any other tree. The wood is fine grained, bent and used for furniture making while the inner bark is said to have medicinal properties. The Tulip tree is not the only traction in the garden: there are flowers galore and a most charming herbaceous border in front of a wisteria-covered pergola, There are some fine old Camphor trees that are in flower at present; the leaves of these trees have a mast pleasing fragrance. We also saw more than one Golden Oriole flying around the garden as well as many other birds, the place seems to be a great favourite with our feathered friends it must have been their bath morning when we were there. There were numerous birds' n in the garden, many with young birds pee over the sides, but we shall leave the birds for E.S.W. to describe: he has forgotten more about them than we ever knew.—w.t-K.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.