The Postcard
A postcard that was published by G. S. J. of Durban.
The card was posted in Streatham on Saturday the 10th. January 1914 to:
Miss Hope,
221, Alderminster Road,
Bermondsey,
London.
The message on the divided back was as follows:
"Dear Lizzie,
Sorry you did not get my
P.C. in time last week as
we had a fine little party
here.
I wish you had been here
but anyway come this
Sunday for I don't think
Fred will be home.
Bring Lennie, come to
dinner.
It's late,
Love Lois."
Durban
Durban (Zulu: eThekwini, from Itheku meaning "bay/lagoon") is the third most populous city in South Africa—after Johannesburg and Cape Town—and the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Located on the east coast of South Africa, Durban is the busiest port in the country.
Durban Botanical Gardens
The Durban Botanical Gardens are situated in the city of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is Durban's oldest public institution, and Africa's oldest surviving botanical gardens. The gardens cover an area of 15 hectares (37 acres) in a subtropical climate.
History of Durban Botanical Gardens
The Durban Botanical Gardens were established:
-- To participate in the quest of Kew Gardens to establish a series of botanical gardens across the world which would assist in the introduction of economically valuable plants.
-- To supply plants to Kew that were new to science.
The first garden in Durban was established in December 1849 by Dr Charles Johnston on the edge of the Berea Ridge next to the Umgeni River (near Quarry Road).
He was in charge of the gardens for less than 1 year. A Scot called Mark McKen then took his place, and began to establish plants of economic value such as sugar cane, tea, coffee and pineapple.
In 1851 the Botanical Gardens were relocated closer to town, to their present site. From 1853 to 1860 there were various curators, the most notable of which was Robert Plant, who died of malaria while collecting plants near Lake St. Lucia.
McKen then returned in 1860 and was the curator for the next 12 years; until his death in 1872.
A German by the name of William Keit took over the curatorship of the gardens, but economic depression in Natal, a drought, and the Anglo-Zulu War took its toll. Keit resigned in 1881 to become a nurseryman, and was later Durban's first Director of Parks.
John Medley Wood
A local farmer and rural trade store owner John Medley Wood who was a self-trained botanist took over the curatorship from 1882 to 1913, and the Durban Botanic Gardens was said to have enjoyed its heyday.
With support from the governor of the colony of Natal, Sir Henry Bulwer who shared a keen interest in the Gardens, John Medley Wood founded the Natal Government Herbarium in 1882 which was at first a wood and corrugated iron hut in which he organised the storage of over 1,500 plant specimens.
He prepared about 13,000 plant specimens, many of which were distributed by exchange, and only about 6,000 of his original specimens remain in the collection of today's more than 100,000 specimens - most of which originate in KwaZulu-Natal.
John Medley Wood discovered many new species of plants which he sent to Kew Gardens. His most famous discovery was a clump of a large species of cycad in Ongoye Forest in 1895. This cycad was subsequently named in honour of him in 1908 as Wood's Cycad.
Three basal offsets of the cycad were collected by Wood's deputy, James Wylie, in 1903 and planted in the Durban Botanic Gardens, and again in a 1907 expedition, Wylie collected two of the larger stems and brought them to the gardens.
Wood's Cycad is now the emblem of the Durban Botanic Gardens, where the original specimens are still growing.
Economic problems exacerbated by the suspension of a government grant in the last years of the Natal Colony caused the collapse of the Durban Agricultural and Horticultural Society, who had owned the Gardens.
In 1913, most of the garden was transferred to the Durban Corporation, but about 1 acre (0.40 ha) including the herbarium and Medley Wood's house was excised and transferred to the Union Department of Agriculture.
After Medley's death on the 26th. August 1915 he was succeeded as curator of the herbarium by Dr P. A. van der Bijl, a noted mycologist.
Because of the subsequent political changes with the Union of South Africa, the gardens went into a state of decline, but many of the trees planted by McKen, Keit and Medley Wood are still growing.
William Keit again took over the gardens on the 27th. August 1916, about a year after the death of John Medley Wood.
Among later curators was Ernest Thorp (from 1950 to 1975) who oversaw the construction of the orchid house at the gardens in 1962.
Around 1965 the gardens were noted for their collection of Cannas, and Ernest Thorp sent rhizomes of 3 varieties to Longwood Gardens in the United States upon request.
In 1999 the gardens were surveyed and mapped so that the various plants and their relevant information could be traced with the aid of GIS software.
The Plant Collections
(a) Cycads
The gardens contain an extensive collection of cycads from South Africa and from other parts of the world. The most notable specimens are those of Wood's Cycad. In 1992 the cycads were re-arranged to represent their geographic distribution.
(b) Ferns
John Medley Wood was an avid collector of ferns, and published 'A Popular Description of the Natal Ferns' in 1877, and 'The Classification of Ferns' in 1879.
As of 2010 the Durban Botanic Gardens have a collection of ferns, many of which grow in the section of the gardens called the "Fern Dell". The collection consists of both local and exotic species.
(c) Orchids
The orchid collection first began in 1931, was moved to the Ernest Thorp Orchid House in 1962, and since 2010 consists of more than 9,000 plants including Cattleya, Phalaenopsis and Vanda, which are put on display in the orchid house when in bloom (mostly in spring and autumn).
(d) Bromeliads
Some of the first bromeliads (discounting the pineapples of 1850) may have been received by Medley at the gardens in 1885.
Various species of bromeliads grow in mass plantings in the gardens, and some are placed in the orchid house on display during winter and summer when fewer orchids are in bloom.
Trees
There are at least 1,354 individual trees, and about 917 palms growing in the Durban Botanical Gardens.
Activities and Events in the Gardens
The grounds currently host various social gatherings such as local music bands and ' Victorian tea parties', as well as an indigenous plant fair in spring (September) each year.
The fair is hosted by the Botanical Society of South Africa, and in 2009 and 2010 the Lepidopterists' Society of Africa was involved to promote the growing of indigenous butterfly food plants.
The theme of the Fair for 2010 was taken from the UN's International Year of Biodiversity, and more than 750 species of plants indigenous to South Africa were on display.
Pancho Villa
So what else happened on the day that Lois posted the card to Lizzie? Well, it was a busy day.
In the Battle of Ojinaga, Pancho Villa led a force of 7,000 troops and captured Ojinaga, forcing more than half of the 4,000 defending federal troops to retreat over the Mexican-U.S. border.
The victory effectively gave Villa control of nearly all of northern Mexico, and cemented his reputation as a great military leader.
The Canadian Arctic Expedition
Also on that day, after drifting in ice for several months in the Beaufort Sea, the polar expedition crew of the ship Karluk woke to a severe shudder that shook the whole ship,
It was evident ice was attacking the hull, and at 6:45am a loud bang was heard, indicating that the hull had been punctured. Captain Robert Bartlett observed a gash 10 feet (3.0 m) in the ship's engine room.
With the pumps unable to handle the inflow of water, Bartlett ordered the crew to abandon ship.
A Rent Strike
Also on the 19th. January 1914, rent strike organisers for 300 tenants living in the Burley area of Leeds called for a city-wide protest against a significant increase in rents imposed by the Leeds branch of the Property Owners Association. The strike lasted for eight weeks.
Two Murders
Also on that day, John G. Morrison and his son Arling were killed in their Salt Lake City grocery store by two armed intruders masked in red bandannas.
Later that evening, labor activist Joel Emmanuel Hägglund, better known as Joe Hill, met a local doctor to be treated for a bullet wound in the left lung. Hill claimed he had been shot following an argument with a woman, but refused to name her.
The doctor later reported to police that Hill was also armed with a pistol. Police investigators searched Hill's residence, and found a red bandanna, but the pistol purported to be in Hill's possession was never found.
Hill denied involvement in the robbery and killing. Hill did not know Morrison, and at his trial, defense lawyers pointed out that four other people were treated for bullet wounds that same night, and the entry and size of the bullet wound corresponded with Hill's testimony of the circumstances when he was shot.
New Speed Skating Records
Also on the 10th. January 1914, Norwegian speed skater Oscar Mathisen set the first of five world records throughout the month of January, starting with a finish of 43.7 seconds in the 500m in Oslo at the newly reopened Frogner stadium, which had to be moved to make room for the Jubilee Exhibition.
